Sakura's Sweet Victory
by Raevennevermore
Summary: The 14 year old Sakura seems to be convinced that Sasuke will never return her feelings, so when the new guy Sai seems to be interested,Sakura complies. But could she be wrong about Sai's feelings?Or more importantly, is she wrong about Sasuke's? Sasusaku
1. Chapter 1

a/n: okay, so my friend found a story that I had written on my computer in the summer of 8th grade, and I thought why not post it up here :P this is my first time uploading a story, and I hope you enjoy it :)

(stuff in parenthesis is my own in put :P )

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She sighed. _'The first day of school…I hate this time of the year…why can't it be vacation, like, forever?' _She thought as she looked at herself in her gold mirror. She had her bubblegum pink hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore green flip-flops, jeans with a hole in the knee, and a green baby-tee that brought out the gorgeous color of her eyes. On this day, Haruno Sakura did not feel the need to dress up. After all, it's not like she had any one to impress.

After being rejected for seven years, the new, matured, 14-year-old Sakura no longer had feelings for the mighty, manly Uchiha Sasuke. However, they seemed to put their awkwardness behind them. They were still friends and talked to each other often, but who couldn't when you have a loudmouth Naruto sticking you together like Crazy glue? Sakura also didn't get angry or jealous when one of Sasuke's many fan girls tried to flirt with him. In fact, she wished the girl the best. "Some one really needs to melt that ice cube…" Sakura says.

"Almost time for school. Better get a move on." She said as she walked out of her pink bedroom.

As she walked down the stairs with a _creak, squeak_ every time she placed her foot on a step, she heard her parent's normal morning conversation.

"So, what are you doing at work today, honey?" Mrs. Haruno would ask every morning.

"Oh, boring stuff… ramble, ramble." Mr. Haruno would have the same reply.

Sakura walked into the kitchen and grabbed a banana out of the fruit bowl she made in art class.

"Sakura, I made pancakes, your favorite!" Mrs. Haruno squealed as if she was 13-years-old again, and she had just seen her favorite boy band.

"Thanks mom, but I'm going to be really late. I'll just eat this on my way to school, alright?" Sakura stated as she held up her ripe banana half way out of its peel.

"But-"

"We don't want our pumpkin late on her first day of 9th grade, do we?" Mr. Haruno interrupted as he winked at his wife.

"Yep!" Sakura added her two cents with a smile.

"Okay, I guess…" Mrs. Haruno replied with defeat and hurt in her voice.

"You can make them some other time, can't you mom? I'd really appreciate it!" Sakura exclaimed as she kissed her mom and dad on the cheek before heading into the living room. She slung her green and pink book-bag over her right shoulder as she headed out the door. "Bye! Love you!"

She walked down the streets of Konoha, saying hi to everyone she knew, and replying to people who said hello to her. She turned a corner sharply, and ran into something, or someone. Not to mention, they both slammed their butts down on Konoha's hard sidewalks.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! GEEZ, PEOPLE CAN BE SO RUDE!" The person screamed at the top of their lungs as they threw their hands in the air, creating a stir on the street.

"Ino-pig?" Sakura inquired.

"Billboard-brow?" Ino asked with a slight tilt of her head.

The girls leapt up and grabbed each other into a suffocating hug.

"Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you in a month! Where have you been?!" Ino yelled as she removed her self from a hug, and placed her hands on Sakura's shoulders and began to shake her poor friend.

"I know! I was training." Sakura replied to her loud companion.

"Summer isn't about training, it's about having fun!" Ino stated as she smiled a wide smile.

"Not if you want to be an awesome ninja!" Sakura put one hand on her hip and the other hand behind her head as she winked," Like me!"

"Ha! Come on, superstar, we're going to be late."

They walked to school, talking about girl things, and catching up. When they reached where their school was supposed to be, they stopped in dissatisfaction. They found a zoo instead of their school. There were kids screaming and running around pulling pranks on people, some were tee-peeing the school in broad daylight, and students were on the roof throwing random things at the poor teens and pre-teens below.

"Another year at Konoha middle." Sakura stated the obvious as she sighed deeply.

"I can't wait for high school." Ino sighed in return.

They made their way through the crowd of nearly 10,000 people. They saw their friends Kiba, Shino, Neji, Ten-ten, and Chouji all trying to find their way in to the building as well. The two friends tried to make their way over to them, but it was thoroughly impossible. Thus, they made their way to the double doors, and were expecting to dodge things the people on the roof were throwing. Instead, they heard wolf-whistles and "what's your sign?!" The two ignored them, and made their way in.

"Ugh! Guys are SO immature!" Sakura screamed. She got attention from a few innocent bystanders.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE LOOKING AT?!" Ino screamed at the running students.

_That's the good thing about having Ino around. _Sakura thought with an inward laugh.

Abruptly, they saw a black figure flash by them, and vanish all of within two split seconds.

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**a/n: **well, i hope you liked it :) this wasn't one of the juiciest chapters, or the funniest.

so who's this mysterious black figure? ;P find out next chapter :D


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n:** so that black figure is.... read :) i hope you enjoy :)

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Sakura immediately went into attack mode. Expecting anything and everything, she backed up against the lockers to prevent them from attacking her from behind, and catching her off guard. However, she backed into a soft, warm body instead of a hard, cold locker.

"Ugh! Sakura-Chan! How do you always know when I'm coming?"

"Naruto?" Sakura asked with a tilt of her head.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto shouted happily with his dopey smile, and his hands outstretched ready for a hug.

"Baka!" Sakura screamed as she unleashed her full-strength on the innocent and stupid Naruto. "DOBE, why did you try to sneak up on me?!" Sakura yelled attracting attention from other students once again as she punched Naruto on the head one final time.

"Sakura-Chan… I really missed you!" the dopey blonde cried to Sakura.

"Aww… Naruto, you are so stupid, but sometimes you can be **SO** cute!" Sakura smiled and gave Naruto his long awaited hug. (DO NOT WORRY:: This is NOT a NaruSaku fic. In my opinion, Sakura should be with Sasuke. Please don't flame me, NaruSaku fans, thank you.)

"Hn." They heard someone grunt.

"Well, hello, if it isn't the great Uchiha Sasuke?" Sakura turned and smiled.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's only reply.

"Is it too much to ask you for a full sentence?" Ino asked Sasuke.

"Ino, it's okay. He's too socially dysfunctional to use real sentences like normal people." Sakura said as she stuck out her tongue at Sasuke.

"Hn."

"Grr… you are such a…" her angry face was replaced with a smile as she squealed," SHIKA-KUN!!" as she ran down the hallway passed Sasuke.

"I'm a what?" Sasuke asked in a cool, collected voice watching her as she ran by.

Ino was too busy hugging the crap out of Shikamaru to notice Sasuke's question. "Troublesome." Shikamaru said as Ino squeezed tighter.

"OH MY GOSH, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!! How have you been?" Ino exclaimed and asked. All the while she was still holding Shikamaru.

"Well, looks like Ino's happy. Looks like you're off the hook this time." Sakura said a she jabbed Sasuke's side with her elbow.

"Yay." Sasuke sarcastically replied.

"Oh, don't you just seem thrilled?!" Sakura asked as she threw up her arms.

The bell rang. Every one knew what was going to happen. Ino pulled Shikamaru up against the lockers, Naruto leapt over to the window, and even Sasuke ducked for cover by the lockers. All this happened in less than 3 seconds. However, poor Sakura was left in the middle of the hallway, and she knew it was too late.

Just then, a flood of everyone in the school barged in through the double doors. Poor, defenseless, little Sakura got carried away with them. From down the hallway you could still hear Naruto screaming "SAKURA-CHAN!"

About two hallways down from where the rest of her friends were, the flood turned another corner, but this time leaving a coughing, hurt Sakura sitting on the white speckled floor.

"Geez, this happened every day last year! Why didn't I learn my lesson? I fell right on butt! OW!!" Sakura whined rubbing her hurt area.

"Yo, why are you sitting down? You should be getting to class; you are going to be late." A voice advised her.

She looked up at the voice and saw a pretty cute guy. He had a sort of emo hair cut, paler than pale skin, and had an emotionless expression on his face. _He reminds me of Sasuke in a weird way… but he's kind of cute. _Sakura inwardly smiled.

"Are you deaf?" The boy asked as he squatted down on his knees to see eye-to-eye with her. It looked as if he was searching her soul. She looked into his deep black eyes and saw darkness and a hint of evil. However, she also saw loneliness and a beautiful glimmer as he looked at her.

"You have pretty eyes." Sakura said dumbly with a dopey Naruto expression on her face.

"What?" the boy asked with a furrow of the eyebrows, but still managing to keep his face emotionless.

"Nothing, hee hee hee." Sakura giggled awkwardly as she slowly got to her feet, and the boy did the same. (I mean got to his feet, not giggling awkwardly… lol.)

"Hello, I'm Haruno Sakura. Who are- " Sakura began, but was interrupted by Sasuke's voice.

"Sai." Sasuke growled.

"Uchiha, what a pleasure to see you again." Sai said to Sasuke, who was behind Sakura.

"Hn, trying to seduce girls again?" Uchiha asked giving Sai an invitation to a staring contest.

"No, I was just telling her she was going to be late." Sai said with a smirk as he graciously agreed to the challenge.

Sakura couldn't help, but feel uncomfortable. "Umm… I have to go to class." Sakura said as she pointed down the hallway, and started walking. '_I forgot!!_' She turned and said," It was nice to meet you, Sai!" Sakura threw a wide smile before continuing down the hallway.

As soon as she was out of sight, and out of ear shot, Sai began a conversation. Both boys' eyes were watering from how long they had kept them open, and they didn't show signs of slipping. They were focused on winning. The two got many stares because they kind of looked like they were crying.

"So, what's the matter, Uchiha, you jealous?" Sai asked with a smirk.

"She's my friend. I don't like her that… eww. I just want to protect her from perverts like you." Sasuke replied with a disgusted face.

Just then, a voice came to them. "Hey guys! You are going to be late if you don't hurry, Sasuke-teme.

Sai and Sasuke blinked.

"DAMN IT!!" They screamed, "What do you want Naruto?!"

Naruto looked very scared, and started to slowly back away as he said, "Umm… you are going to be late to homeroom, Sasuke-teme."

"THAT'S ALL?!" Sasuke screamed. (Wow, is he showing EMOTION? Its anger, but still…)

"Hey! I was just looking out for you, no need to get all touchy." Naruto stated as he went his way to class.

Sasuke and Sai headed their separate ways, but not without agreeing to a re-match some other time.

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**a/n: **so there's the end of chapter 2 - i hope you all liked it :) please review :)


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n: **hi :)

The group was at their usual place for lunch, the picnic table in the courtyard underneath the Sakura tree. Unfortunately, Kiba and Shino promised their moms they would go home for lunch, but they didn't leave without some torture from the boys of the group. Despite the missing characters, the day was beautifully sunny, clear, and slightly windy. However, it was the warm kind of wind that made you tingle as it slowly passes by. Plus, the Sakura tree was blooming very well, and added loveliness to the already beautiful day.

"N-naruto-kun, do you want my left over sushi? I can't finish it." Hinata told Naruto as she pushed it over to him across the table. She still had the biggest crush on him, but only stuttered when saying his name.

"Sure! Thanks Hinata-Chan!" Naruto gave a toothy grin and wolfed down the sushi. He didn't notice Hinata's bright red blush flush across her cheeks although, everybody else did.

"He's clueless, STILL!" Sakura whispered in Ino's ear.

"I know. He needs a brain. Scratch that, it doesn't even take a brain to realize she likes him! And he even calls her Hinata-Chan!" Ino replied.

Sakura sighed for the third time today. This time it was because she had forgotten to pack a drink with her lunch. "Hey guys, I'll be right back. Drink." She explained as she got up from the table.

As she walked down the halls to the vending machine, she could hear Ino screaming, "CHOJI!!! I WANTED THAT!! GIVE IT BACK!! I AM NEVER FREAKIN' TAKING YOU OUT TO BARBEQUE AGAIN!!- HEY, HEY NO- DON'T TAKE THAT!! I'LL TAKE YOUR CHIPS!! YEA, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!!" and Sakura chuckled a bit. She loved her friends. They could be so funny sometimes.

She reached the drink machine, put in her yen, and pressed the button for water.

Then she waited.

And waited.

She hit the button one more time, but with a lot more force.

And she waited some more.

Waited.

Five minutes had passed and there was still no sign of the drink machine giving what Sakura had paid for.

"That was all the yen I had!" She complained audibly as she leaned with her back against the machine.

"I can help you."

She turned and saw Sai with his expressionless still painted on. "Really? How? The stupid thing's broken." Sakura stated as she kicked the machine so hard it made a dent.

"Hold on." Sai commanded as he took out a scroll and began to paint. The determination and focus in his eyes was admirable. With a final swish of his brush he muttered a jutsu. A long, skinny dragon crawled out of the scroll, and flew into the machine.

Sakura looked at him in amazement. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open.

"You might want to close your mouth. You could get bugs in there." Sai said as Sakura immediately shut her mouth with a _clank_ sound of her teeth.

A moment or two later, the dragon came out, but this time he had his tiny body wrapped around a cylindrical object. He flew to Sakura and dropped the bottle in her hands as it vanished. "Wow, you didn't have to do all that…" Sakura said as she looked guiltily at the water bottle," I could have just gone to the water fountain or something."

"No, it's okay. But, you better hurry and get back. Your friends are waiting for you. Especially Uchiha." Sai stated as he turned around and started to walk away, "He will probably be the most worried of all."

"Ha! Like that sack of ice cares where I go, and what I do." Sakura laughed.

"Just watch him." Muttered Sai as he continued on his way.

"Umm… okay." Sakura said as she turned to go her way. "Oh, thank you for the water!" She said as she turned and smiled at him.

Sai didn't see the smile, instead held up his hand as a sign that he heard her.

Sakura carried her smile all the way back to the courtyard. When she approached her table, everyone stared at her.

"What took you?" Ino asked as Sakura took her place beside her.

Sakura giggled as she told the entire story to Ino, and her face lit up.

"OH MY GOSH! Do you think he likes you?"

Sakura whispered the story to an excited Hinata, and she replied "Aww! That is SO sweet!!"

"Who?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Someone!" Sakura replied as all the girls giggled a bit. The boys looked dumbfounded.

"Who, Sakura?" the raven haired boy asked.

"OOO!! Is Uchiha interested in Sakura's love-life?" Ino tortured.

"Hn. I wasn't really expecting an answer-"

"SAI!" Sakura screamed with a genuine wide smile.

As soon as the name was uttered Sasuke slammed his fists on the table so hard that the table shook, stood up, leaned over the table, and stared directly into Sakura's frightened eyes with his sharingan. "Never mention him. He doesn't like anyone, especially you. He is nothing but a jerk and a pervert." Uchiha said firmly looking at no one else but Sakura, and keeping his face emotionless. He then sat down, and deactivated the sharingan.

_Wow, I really lost control. That's the first time in a long while._ He quickly changed thoughts._ Hn. Not like I care. It's the truth. _Sasuke thought.

Sakura looked quite taken back, and all she could do was stare at him with frightened eyes like everyone else. The rest of the lunch period would have been in silence if it weren't for Ino yelling at Shikamaru for countless and pointless things. However, an awkward cloud still hung between Sakura and Sasuke.

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**a/n:** i was just testing the waters with 3 of the chapters, but it seems that people somewhat like it :P so i think i'll continue posting them :)


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n: **so here's the fourth chapter, it's really short.. but i still hope you enjoy it :)

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It was almost time for 6th period, and we find our favorite pink-haired kunoichi running to class hoping to not be late. Luckily, she stepped through the threshold right as the bell rang.

She looked around the room, and didn't find a single strand of evidence of a teacher. _'Kakashi's class…I should have guessed…' _she thought as she glanced to see where she was supposed to sit. The room was filled with an estimate of about 20 small tables. Each desk was individual and the wooden platform was connected to the chair by a silver metal bar. Furthermore, all the desks were taken, except for one.

'_And wouldn't you know it? Right beside Sai…' _Sakura thought.

(who saw it coming? )

She slowly walked to her designated spot, and softly set her stuff down on the table with the barely audible _plop_. Sai heard this and immediately looked left and stared at her as she awkwardly sat down.

"Hey Sai!" Sakura exclaimed with a large smile.

"Yo." Sai replied in a much less enthusiastic voice.

A puff of thick, gray smoke appeared in the front of the room. As soon as the smoke had dissipated a little you could hear a clear voice say, "Sorry, I seemed to be struck by what an amazingly beautiful day it was. I looked at the sun directly and became temporarily blind. Thankfully-"

"LIAR!!" The class screamed, excluding Sai.

Kakashi cleared his throat loudly," Well, this year we are starting off the year learning about Yondaime and the nine-tailed-fox." Kakashi wrote the last six words on the board.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI, IM THE NINE-TAILED-FOX!!" Naruto stood up and screamed.

"Then, you should be the most excited of all of us. However, that does not mean you need to be the loudest." Kakashi told him as he rolled his visible right eye.

"YAY!! WE ARE GOING TO LEARN ABOUT ME!!" Naruto yelled happily.

"Naruto, sit down. I know I can speak for all of us when I say you are giving us a headache."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto muttered in a mocking voice.

"Hey Naruto-" Kakashi appeared behind him, and knocked him out of his chair, "ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"

Naruto was knocked out of the building, and the vicinity. Naruto could hear, "NARUTO-KUN!!" from a poor Hinata very far away.

Kakashi turned to everyone and had a smiley face under his mask," Now, that goes to show you, do not be loud in my class room please." Everyone looked quite frightened. "Good, now moving on…"

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**a/n: **i love kakashi :) please review :)


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n: **okay this one is by far the funniest in my opinion :P you can decide for yourself :)

also, i got a review saying i could make the chapters longer, so any chapter that i thought was too short, i meshed with another chapter :) and i hope you find most of my chapters to be longer, and a little more enjoyable :) (there are two that i couldn't mesh, and i had to leave them kind of short - and i am sorry :[ )

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"Hey Sakura! Wait up!" Ino screamed running up to the double doors of the school where Sakura was waiting.

"Yea, Ino?" Sakura asked.

"You know how my dad owns a mini hot spring, right?"

"Well, yea, duh." Sakura said as she stuck out her tongue.

"Well…" Ino started. "I'm going to get everyone together for a little back-to-school bash!" Ino smiled widely.

"And?"

"I'm inviting everyone! Including Sai!" Ino said as she winked at Sakura.

"Oh my gosh! I don't like him, Ino!" Sakura blurted as she blushed. She shifted her eyes from left to right nervously, to make sure nobody had heard her loud friend.

"Oh sure, Sakura, you are as conspicuous as a pimple on Sasuke's face."

"That's a really weird simile, Ino…" Sakura and Ino laughed, "Well, you can count me in just because of that."

"Awesome! I'm going to go invite everyone else!" Ino screamed over her shoulder as she ran off to invite more students. "See you there!"

Later, at Sakura's house:

"What should I wear?" she asked herself out loud as she held up a long-sleeved white shirt.

"Who cares? You are going to be taking it off anyway," a male voice came from her supposed-to-be-locked-window sill.

Sakura stood there frozen like a popsicle that had left in the freezer for a week. 'Crap. That window's broken…'

"Are you deaf?" The voice asked impatiently.

She found the courage to slowly turn and face him. There, on Sakura's window sill, squatted down on his knees with his hands in front of him was none other than the infamous Uchiha Sasuke.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked with a priceless confused face.

"Advice. My advice is to NOT get in the hot spring if Sai is going," Sasuke warned with an emotionless face.

"Why? Other people will be in there with me." Sakura argued as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I wouldn't chance it. He's a pretty talented pervert."

"Well, your odd feelings toward Sai aside, are you going?" Sakura asked.

"Probably not. Parties are lame." Sasuke said.

"OH! You have to come!" She exclaimed.

Sasuke looked up at her, his face as expressionless as ever. "Why?"

"Don't you want to keep an eye on Sai?"

"Nah. You'll be okay." '_I hope_,' He thought.

"Please go," Sakura begged. "You'll have fun!" She winked.

". . . I doubt that."

"Okay, two choices: you can either go and have fun or you can help me pick out my clothes!" Sakura squealed jumping up and down clapping her hands excitedly.

"Hn," he said as he jumped off her window and ran swiftly to the manly Uchiha apartment.

"Going to get ready?!" Sakura screamed out of her window. When she heard nothing but the steady low whisper of the wind against her window, she stepped back and continued searching the perfect party outfit.

Ino's party:

Music was blasting out of the speakers and everyone was dancing on the multi-colored spotlighted floor. The room was dark, except the spotlights, and had a lounge along with the hot springs just outside. All of the students attended, including Sasuke. He was leaning with his back against the wall keeping his cool image, watching everyone. Well, mostly one person, a certain pink-haired person.

"Ino! How did you get me dancing?!" Sakura yelled over the music.

"Easily-" Ino smiled although it was barely visible in the dark room.

FLASHBACK:

Sakura was wearing the same long-sleeved white shirt with a green tank-top underneath, a blue jean skirt, and the green flip-flops from earlier. Her hair was in two braids with a green bow tied at each end, and a white flower was behind her ear. She looked very pretty! ^-^

However, Sakura isn't much of the dancing type of person, so she was hanging out by the punch and snacks, getting refills every now and then.

"Hey Sakura, having fun?" Ino asked.

"Yea." Sakura lied, looking down into her cup as she swished the red liquid around.

"Why don't you come and dance with us?" Ino requested.

"I'm not really in a dancing type of mood. In fact, I just plain can't dance." Sakura said as she finally looked Ino in the face.

"COME ON!!" Ino screamed grabbing Sakura with a death grip pulling her onto the dance floor.

"Ino, NO! I CAN'T DANCE! INO STOP! I SAID **STOP**!" Sakura yelled as Ino was dragging her to the middle of the floor.

Everyone around her was dancing, including her best friends; Hinata, Ino, and Ten-ten. She looked and felt like a total idiot.

"Ino, I can't do this!" Sakura screamed shaking her head.

"Come on, Sakura! It's not that hard!" Ten-ten urged Sakura as she swayed her hips a little bit, and continued to keep rhythm. Ten-ten was wearing a short, cute Chinese style pink dress with pink flip-flops. Plus, for once in her life she had her down, and she looked very beautiful. =D

"Yes, Sakura!" Hinata smiled. Even Hinata was dancing because she hadn't seen Naruto yet. She had her normal hair style, and a purple long shirt that came to the middle of her thigh and slanted on the right side. White capris and purple converse complimented the ensemble. Like the others, she was very cute. =D

"Sakura, DANCE! Here comes Sai!" Ino shouted as she pointed at the door. Ino was wearing a blue belly shirt, a black skirt, and blue flip-flops. She had her hair in her normal long ponytail. She kind of looked like a whore, but hey this is Ino. =D. just kidding she was cute. ^-^

"Sai?! There is **NO** way I'm dancing now!" Sakura screamed as she started to walk off.

"No, Sakura, Come on!" Ten-ten begged as she grabbed her arm.

"OH MY GOSH! SASUKE CAME!" Ino yelled unnecessarily loud.

"Sasuke really came?" Sakura asked.

**SHOW HIM WHAT HE'S MISSING!! **

_No, I can't dance…_

**Oh come on, Sakura! Shake your money maker! Sai might look your way too!! **

_I can't dance!!_

**Sakura, I'm you. Trust me; you've got rhythm, so, shake what your mama gave you! C'mon! Don't you want to make Sasuke jealous?**

_Why should I? It's not like I like him anymore._

**Yeah, but he's hot, he rejected you, make him jealous!**

_I have __NO__ idea why I am listening to you, but…fine…_

Sakura began to swing her hips to the music.

"WOO! Go Sakura!" Ino clapped her hands while still gliding to the music.

"Sakura's got moves!" Hinata smiled.

They formed and a circle and danced, and they didn't care about other people.

"And she said she couldn't dance!" Ten-ten laughed.

END OF FLASHBACK:

"-SASUKE CAME IN!" Ino screamed.

"Ino, quiet! Do you **HAVE** to be SO loud?!" Sakura yelled.

"ooo! Does Sakura still have some feelings for the Uchiha?" Ten-ten teased.

"No, I'm totally over him." she started gradually slow down her dancing. "We're just friends." She said as she came to a stop. "Hey guys are you hungry? I'm starving!" Sakura exclaimed cheerfully as she headed towards the snack table.

"Umm… yea let's go." Ino said as she followed Sakura, and Hinata and Ten-ten followed suit.

Meanwhile, underneath the snack table Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Neji had finally arrived.

Naruto had an evil and overly excited grin on his face as he asked, "Hey Neji, Did you bring it?!"

"I have **NO** idea why I listened to you, but yes. I did bring it…" Neji stated as he pushed over four large bottles of sake towards Naruto.

"Yes! This is going to be **AWESOME!!**" Naruto laughed with a large grin on his face.

"This is such a drag Naruto… why do **WE **have to be the ones to spike the punch?" Shikamaru asked as he lazily rested on a table leg.

"Shikamaru, you are never any fun! Geez, you have got to stop being so lazy and get out more often!" Kiba advised him.

"Besides, **EVERY** good party has spiked punch!!" Kiba and Naruto screamed in unison, "Awesome!!" They exclaimed as they gave each other a high-five.

"Well, I have done my part. I'm leaving. This table is crowded." Neji stated as he left.

"Nah, he's just going to find Ten-ten." Kiba stated as Naruto snaked up to the bowl and started to pour. Kiba kept look out, while Shikamaru slept.

Naruto had dumped 3 bottles and was reaching for the fourth when Kiba gave the signal that some one was coming. A wolf-whistle. Quickly, Naruto sprang down, and knocked into Shikamaru in the process, waking up the cranky, lazy teenager.

"What was that?" Ten-ten asked as she looked around.

"It's called guys being immature." Sakura stated as she, Hinata, and Ino went for the punch. Ten-ten was checking out the delicious food.

"Let's have a punch drinking contest!!" Sakura shouted excitedly looking at the cherry flavored liquid.

"HECK YES!!" Ino shouted louder, "Are you in, Hinata?"

"Sure!" Hinata said as she giggled a little.

"Oh no-" Kiba started.

They could hear the girls filling punch in to multiple cups and placing them on the table.

"This does NOT-" Shikamaru whispered.

"SOUND GOOD AT ALL!!" Naruto whispered LOUDLY. Shikamaru firmly placed his hand on Naruto's mouth to keep him quiet.

"If they catch us we are dead-"

"We would be BEYOND dead!" Kiba interrupted with a deranged face.

"mmmk mill mou mmmlease get mour mand of my mouf?" Naruto asked in desperation.

"As long as you are quiet!" Shikamaru whispered urgently while removing his hand from Naruto's face.

"Okay! On your marks! Get set! GO!" Sakura screamed as they all plunged toward their cups.

Sakura was the first to get a cup, and she immediately drained it, and dived for another. Hinata was still on her first, and Ino was grabbing another as Sakura drained one more.

Cup after cup, Sakura was in the lead. Not for long, however, Ino was slowly catching up. Sakura- 6, Ino- at a close 5, and poor Hinata was on her 3rd.

On Sakura's 7th cup, she began to feel this funny little feeling inside her stomach. '_Is_ _this_ _really_ _punch?'_ She thought to herself as she looked at her cup in front of her strangely. She began to feel oddly dizzy, and caught herself from falling down. "Ino? Do you feel weird?" Sakura asked in her last minutes of being somewhat sober.

"Yeah… but I didn't do anything. I swear!" Ino replied as she started tilting toward the right a little. All the boys sweat dropped. Boy, were they in for some trouble.

Sakura and Ino both looked down at the ground and immediately looked back at each other and thought '_oh no...'_ Hinata lay on the floor, completely passed out from four cups of spiked punch.

"Hinata's drunk?! OH NO!" Naruto screamed.

"Ino will be even more troublesome." Shikamaru said as he sighed deeply and lay down on the floor.

"Ha ha ha… I feel a little funny!" Sakura announced as she fell backward onto her butt. She saw Naruto and the other's hiding place, and she also saw the room spinning.

"Hey Naruto! Are you playing hide-and-go-seek?! I WANNA PLAY!" Sakura screamed as she awkwardly ran to the lounge and behind the sofa. "HA! YOU WILL NEVER FIND ME HERE!!"

"Oh… my… gosh!! HIDE-AND-GO-SEEK?! I LOVE THAT GAME!!" Ino screamed even louder than usual as she ran off toward the couch. Unfortunately, she came one with the floor before she reached behind the sofa.

Naruto was beside Hinata, checking her vital signs. Shikamaru was doing what he does best, sleeping. However, Kiba decided he did NOT want to be at fault for this, so he ran like hell out of there.

"INO!! THIS IS MY HIDING PLACE !! GO FIND YOUR OWN!!" Sakura screamed as she pushed Ino to the floor.

"NO! THIS IS THE BEST HIDING PLACE **EVER!!**" Ino screamed even louder.

Sasuke heard Sakura's voice from behind the couch, and decided to investigate. Although, he wasn't sure if it was the most sensible thing to do.

He reached Sakura and Ino's 'hiding place' and squatted down on his knees to look behind the sofa.

"SASUKE!" Sakura squealed. "What are you doing here?" Sakura asked as she playfully smacked his shoe with the palm of her hand as she was carelessly swaying back and forth.

"Sakura… are you okay?"

"Of course I am Sasuke!! Are you playing hide-and-go-seek too?"

". . ."

"Yeah, I'm bored too. I want to go to the hot springs ! Hey Ino, you coming?" She asked as she faced Ino on the floor passed out. "Well, I guess she wanted a nap!" Sakura concluded cheerfully as she patted Ino's leg and attempted to stand. "Well, would you like to come with me, Sasuke?"

"Ummm… no."

"WHY NOT?! Oh well, I'll go by myself then!" She said as she headed toward the door. "This place is SO boring!" On her way, she took off an article of clothing. By the time she was at the door, she only had her bra and skirt on.

"Sakura, are you drunk?" Sasuke asked resisting urges to look down.

"NO!" Sakura started to lose her balance, but stopped herself. "I swear. These heels are killing me!!" She screamed looking at her bare feet.

"Sakura… you aren't wearing heels… you're drunk." Sasuke stated bluntly.

"Sasuke… if you… think **I'm** drunk… you must be drunk!" She said pointing a finger to Sasuke as she slowly traveled toward him. She started leaning to the left, but Sasuke re-balanced her. He did not let go of her shoulders.

"Come on, let's get you home."

"NO! Hot springs first! Home, later!" She yelled as she released herself from his grip and went straight through the door.

She walked out of the door, took off her remaining clothing, and stepped into the heated pool. Sasuke was right on her trail. However, when he walked out of the door he heard screaming girls, and a screaming Sakura. He immediately turned his head to face away from the girls. "Sakura, come on! I'm taking you home!" Sasuke screamed.

"NO! I don't want to go home!" Sakura screamed as she smacked the surface water with the palms of her hands, and they immediately went through the water. Sakura found it fascinating. "Wow," she said as she pulled her hand up from the water, looked at it, turned it on its side, and cut through the water. "That is SO amazing! How does it do that?" Sakura asked a black-haired girl.

"SAKURA!" Sasuke growled as he still had his head turned away.

"Sasuke," She stated as she rose from the pool and headed towards him. "You are REALLY no fun. And you are a meanie. I'm sorry guys… Sasuke is being a meanie right now, so I have to go." She told them all, and they screamed 'BYE!' back at her.

"Thank you!" Sasuke said as they walked through the door. Once they were inside, Sasuke finally looked at Sakura again. He was about to start speaking, but alas, he could find no words. Thus, he let his mouth hang slightly open as he looked at the still nude Sakura. "Sakura, you didn't get a towel?" Sasuke asked a few minutes later once he had finally found his words.

Sakura looked up at him with a kind, innocent face as she placed a delicate, wet hand on his shirt, and asked, "What's a towel, Sasuke?"

Sasuke could not believe his ears, but this was the least of his worries. Then, every one in the room stopped and stared at the two ninjas. They had all noticed that Sakura was wearing no clothing, so the girls were throwing daggers at her with their eyes and the boys stood with their mouths hung open like idiots. On some, there was even a bit of drool.

"A towel is something you have to get. NOW!" Sasuke commanded as he grabbed the wrist of the hand that was on his shirt.

They succeeded in the task of getting a towel, and Sasuke wrapped it around her quickly. However, Sakura had different plans. "I feel like… like dancing!" She announced gracefully as she rose up on to her toes and tried to leap. And she fell onto the floor with the towel, successfully unwrapped, laying over her body. "Heh, I flew didn't I?! I meant to dance and I flew…" Sakura whispered to the ground, but was pulled up from the ground harshly by Sasuke.

"Sakura, come with me." Sasuke commanded as he dragged her toward the main room. Shikamaru was sleeping under the table, Naruto was by Hinata's side still, and Kiba had run off. "Dobe, what did you do to Sakura?" Sasuke barked more than asked.

Naruto laughed nervously. "You see, me, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba decided to uh, spike umm… the urh…"

"Spit it out!" Sasuke snapped giving Naruto a death glare. Sakura wanted to join in on the fun, so she repeated everything Sasuke did.

"WE SPIKED THE PUNCH!" Naruto whined loudly and **EVERYONE** looked at him. They all looked down at the punch in their hands as well. Naruto began to "anime cry" while Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Sakura did as well.

"It was **YOU NARUTO!!**" Shikamaru and Neji screamed.

"It was a **GROUP **effort!" Naruto yelled in defense.

"Naruto!!" Sasuke shouted.

"Naruto!!" Sakura repeated in a kiddy voice. "You have a funny name!! Nar-u-to. Naruto. Nar-uto. Na-ru-to!" (A/N: the hyphens are pauses in her speech.) She laughed loudly, suddenly stopped, and turned to Sasuke with pure innocence once again. "Can we go outside Sasuke? I feel funny…"

"We are going to get you home." Sasuke said protectively. "Dobe, Look at what you've done!" Sasuke said pointing to an off-balance Sakura.

Out of nowhere, Sai comes sauntering up with a big, fake smile on his face. The smile slowly faded as he looked around at the scene while Sasuke's anger reached beyond boiling point.

"Why are Sakura's clothes on the floor? And why is Sakura in a towel?" Sai asked staring at Sakura. Sakura was off- balance once again, and smiled a little at Sai. He knew exactly what was wrong with her.

"Go away, Sai. I already have one idiot to take care of." Sasuke told him as he was picking up the evidence that Sakura had been at the party.

"I'll take care of her for you." Sai said with his fake smile returning.

"No chance in hell." Sasuke answered as he reached and put his arm around Sakura's shoulders. He helped scoot her to the door while Sakura turned around and said bye to everyone. She also told Ino and Hinata to have a nice nap.

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**a/n: **i hope you liked it - please review :) and thank you to everyone who already has - i really do appreciate it :)


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n: **Here's the next chapter :) enjoy!!

* * *

They were walking down the streets of Konoha, and poor Sakura could not walk in a straight line. Thus, Sasuke had his arm around her the whole way. He got some dirty looks from people closing up their shops too, considering Sakura was wearing nothing but a towel. Sasuke thought that this plan was useless, especially since perverts were usually out at this time of night. '_Not that I can't handle them of course._' Sasuke thought. However, he went into an alley with a non-stop blabbering Sakura and started his new plan. He kept the towel around her, slipped her skirt on, and then managed to take off his dark blue hoodie and slip it over the top of the towel covering her chest. He slipped the towel off, and Sakura was dressed. Well, at least looked like she was fully dressed. The plan was successful; give Sasuke a hand ladies and gentlemen.

"Damn, you are too much trouble!" Sasuke yelled at her, slamming his fist into a brick wall, leaving an impression.

"Damn, you are too much trouble!" Sakura repeated, and laughed. "Sasuke, you can be **SO** funny sometimes!" She started to lean to the left, but Sasuke quickly put his arm around her again, stopping her from falling. Instead she fell into Sasuke's chest.

"Heeeeeyyyy, Saaaasssuuukkke?" Sakura asked slowly and in a little flirty way.

"Hn?" He asked as he looked down at her.

She put her hand on his chest and asked in a flirty tone, "Do you find me sexy?"

". . . No. Especially when you are drunk."

"Really?!" Sakura asked as she pushed him up against the nearest wall.

"Sakura, Get off me." Sasuke commanded. Being pushed against a wall by a girl was a complete stab to Uchiha pride.

"Sasuke, you're no fun!" She whined as she let him free and slapped the air with her hand. She tripped over a small rock on the path and fell on her side – hard. "There I go again. Flying when I am supposed to dance…" She saw the atmosphere slowly drifting away into a swirling vortex of colors as she smoothed the ground softly with her hand. "I am such a rule breaker…" She whispered as she shut her eyes, and was out.

"It's about time. I thought she would never shut up…" Sasuke said as he picked her up and threw her light body over his shoulder. Then he remembered she was wearing a skirt and no… under garments. He quickly swung her into a bridal style position in his arms. His arm was on the rim of her skirt so nothing would show. (A/N: I'm hating Sakura right now… even if I was passed out I would LOVE to be carried bridal style by Sasuke!! I mean, who wouldn't?!)

Sasuke was walking in a street he didn't know, really late into the night, with a passed out drunk girl in his arms. '_Nothing could be worse…_' He thought to himself. Suddenly, Sasuke saw an old man, in about his mid-40s or 50s closing up his shop. With a lot of thought and strategy, he decided to go and ask for directions.

"Do you know the way to Willow drive?" Sasuke asked.

"I will answer your question if you answer mine." The old man stated wisely.

"Okay." Sasuke agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Why is that girl passed out in your arms?" The old man asked as he raced over and poked Sakura in the arm to make sure she was alive.

Sasuke sighed and sweat dropped. "At a party, a friend decided to spike the punch. Now give me the directions." Sasuke barked. He was angry. He has to help a drunken girl, he gets pushed up against the wall by a drunken girl, he had to ask directions, **AND** explain himself; there's not much Uchiha pride left.

Sasuke felt something hitting his chest repeatedly. He looked down and over, and saw Sakura bouncing up and down in his arms, repeatedly slapping his chest with her hand. "Sasuke, I KNOW WHERE WE GO!" She screamed. The old man looked at her funny as she added, "WE GO LEFT!" she pointed to the right and threw her whole body in the direction. She almost fell out of his grip, but immediately fell back onto Sasuke's arm apparently passed out once more.

"Well, you sure got a live one." The old man commented.

Sasuke gave him a weird look. One of the weirdest looks he had ever given anyone. This man was suspicious.

"Well, if you ever need any tips or anything…" The man went into his store and grabbed some thing off the shelves. As he came back he had something orange in his hand. Sasuke began to walk away with a disgusted face.

"Wait young man." The old man ordered him as he began to run after him. He was intent on giving him the object.

Sasuke stopped, and turned. "You disgust me, Kakashi."

A poof of smoke appeared where the old man once stood. Once the smoke cleared you could hear Kakashi's voice saying, "Sasuke… How did you know it was me?"

"I'm not stupid." Sasuke stated.

"Well, what are you doing with Sakura?" Kakashi nonchalantly asked.

"I'm bringing her home."

"Well, it's about time!" Kakashi commented setting an orange book with 'Icha-Icha Paradise' inscribed on the cover on Sakura's stomach. "Not that you need it or anything. Just in case." Kakashi winked his visible eye.

Sasuke gave a look of utter loathing and revulsion. "I **WILL NOT** be needing this." Sasuke declared bluntly.

"When will your superiority complex come to an end? I said it was just in case." Kakashi rolled his eyes, although only one was able to be seen.

Sasuke sweat dropped. "No, that is not what I mean. I mean, I am not, and **will never **do **anything** to her." Sasuke told him darkly giving him threats of death with his eyes.

Kakashi immediately started to make his way backward, but Sasuke's threats, and his aura, only became more ominous. "I'm sorry Sasuke-kun; I shouldn't have been so quick to infer that you were going to-" Sasuke began to lower his head and deepen his gaze. "I'M SORRY!" Kakashi screamed running away from the menacing, evil figure. (A/N: I would run away too… no one, in their right mind, would mess with Sasuke!!)

'_Coward._' Sasuke thought. He looked down at the kunoichi he was holding. She was asleep soundly, and she looked peaceful and happy in his arms. He saw a smile spread across her face. '_Should I let her go home like this? Hn, not like I care. Her parents think she's the greatest kid in the world; I might as well not let her lose her reputation._' He thought as he jumped in a tall tree to see if he could find his home_. _

The Next Day:

Sakura slowly began to shift around in the bed. '_Oh my gosh… What time is it?_' She thought to her self as she looked over to where **her** nightstand was supposed to be. She looked over to find a dark blue lamp, the picture of team 7 placed at an angle away from the bed, and an alarm clock that was blinking 12:00. '_Did mom rearrange my room while I was sleeping?_ _And ow… my head is killing me..._' She thought as she slowly brought herself up into a sitting position. However, she only found another surprise. She was surrounded by black covers, and the pillow she had rested her head on was not the pink fluffy one on her own bed.

She looked around the room. It was mostly empty and had black walls. The sun was trying to find its way through the black curtains covering up the window, so the only light in the dark room was a sliver of golden yellow running across the ground.

'_Where the hell am I? Is this hell? It's so dark and creepy…_' She began to slowly move her legs over the bed, and made her way to a door she was hoping would lead to the next room. She opened the door to yet another surprise.

'_These are Sasuke's clothes!_' Out of pure fright she slammed the door shut. She slowly reached her hand up to pull the rubber band out of her messy hair and she noticed she was not wearing her white shirt, but instead a hoodie. "**AND WHAT THE HELL AM I WEARING?!**" She screamed racing through the door that lead her to the hallway, which she ran through barely noticing, and she reached the living room of Uchiha Sasuke where she stopped so suddenly that she face-planted into the floor.

She picked her self up in a sitting position, and slowly moved her legs across the floor. She was the ultimate example for quiet, you couldn't hear a sound. Just the birds singing their beautiful morning tune as it floated through the neighborhood in the glimmering morning light. She reached the back of the couch and quietly placed her hands on the top of the black sofa. Sakura pulled her self up and leaned far over to see who was on the couch. To her 'surprise' she found a sleeping Uchiha, slumbering with steady breathing. She continued to look at him. She had never seen him asleep before. He looked so peaceful and so… helpless. '_Perfect for a prank._' Sakura thought evilly as she imagined the possibilities. Sasuke with 'Loser' written on his forehead in permanent marker, pink toenails, putting whip cream on his hand and tickling his face with a feather, dipping his hand in warm water… the possibilities were endless. However, she decided to let him rest. She had never seen him look so content. Sakura smiled at him a she walked to the door, but felt a pair of eyes glaring through her back. She slowly turned to face the pair of black eyes that belonged to Sasuke.

"Umm… Good morning, Sasuke." Sakura said with a smile and a hand behind her head.

Sasuke continued to stare at her in reply, his face unreadable.

"Umm… Can you tell me what happened last night? How did I end up here?" Sakura asked. However, her eyes drifted toward her shirt, underwear, and bra casually lying on the floor.

She screamed bloody murder. "**OH MY GOSH! PLEASE DON'T TELL ME I DID… with you… EWWW!!" ** She threw her most horrified face on as she stared at Sasuke.

". . . We didn't **do** anything, like I would. Now be quiet." Sasuke muttered still trying to wake.

"Good!" Sakura exclaimed with a sigh of relief.

"Doesn't mean you didn't try." Sasuke mumbled almost inaudibly.

"WHAT?!" Sakura asked as she threw on another priceless face.

"You were drunk, no, more than drunk. You were completely wasted." Sasuke explained.

"How? All I remember is having the drinking contest-" Sakura's brain clicked on, and came up with the answer, although her head was still splitting.

"Naruto. / NARUTO!" Sasuke said while Sakura screamed.

"Oh, I'll kill him!" Sakura clenched her fist and stomped on the ground. "Once my head stops hurting…"

"Hn."

Sakura suddenly thought something that would have her grounded forever. "OH MY GOSH! WHAT ABOUT MY PARENTS? DO THEY KNOW I'M HERE-" She overly dramatically gasped, "AT A **BOY'S** HOUSE?!" Sakura screamed, but sank down because of the pain in her head. "They are SO going to freak out! Was I HERE all night?!"

"Your parents think you were spending the night at Ino's house. And yes, you were **here** all night. If you don't like it, I don't care." Sasuke answered.

Sakura sighed, "No, it was fine. I slept fine, too. Hey, why did you let me have the bed?" She gasped, "DID YOU DO ANYTHING TO ME??!!" 

'_Why does everyone automatically think that?! I'm not a pervert._' "Like hell I would do anything to you." Sasuke muttered, "Sai tried though."

"WHAT?!"

"Hn, nothing. Just forget this ever happened."

A few minutes of awkward silence hovered between them before Sakura spoke. "Hey Sasuke…" Sakura said looking down at the white carpet.

"Hn?" Sasuke grunted as he tried to reach the TV remote laying one the floor beside the couch, just barely out of reach.

"Thank you." Sakura said as she walked over to him and gave him a hug.

Sasuke was a bit dumbfounded, and halfway off of the couch trying to get the remote. He made a mad face at her, but only with the best microscope in the world, could you tell he had the slightest shade of pink on his cheeks.

"I know you must have gone through a lot. Thank you **SO** much Sasuke-kun." She said as she squeezed tighter.

'_Its been awhile since she's called me that._' Sasuke thought giving Sakura a weird look.

She released him and looked at him straight in the face sternly pointing a finger at him. "Don't get used to me doing that, or saying that. It was a one time thing, okay?"

"Good."

"Right." She said as she stood up to leave. She reached the apartment door, while Sasuke was focused on getting that remote. Sakura turned once again, "Did I really come on to you last night?"

He stopped, halfway off the couch, and stared at her. "Hn."

"EWW!" She said as she walked through the door, and slammed it behind her.

"Wait, Sakura!" Sasuke shouted.

She barely opened the door, so only her head was seen, "Hm?" When she looked in he had found a way to get the remote because the TV was turned on, and he was watching it without a blink.

"I want my hoodie back." He said as his eyes were still glued to the screen.

"Oh right…" She said as she walked to her clothes and scooped them up and headed to the bathroom. "Hey, do you mind if I take a shower? So you know… I won't smell like… umm..." Sakura did not finish her sentence because she couldn't find the right word. She knew what she should say, she just couldn't say it.

Thus, Sasuke said it for her, "Alcohol?"

". . . Yea. . ." She slowly replied.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted while he shrugged his shoulders.

"Thank you Sasuke-ku-" Sakura got a confused look on her face, but it turned into a smile. "Ookie!" She felt her cheeks turn red with heat, so she began walking to the bathroom. '_Oh my gosh, I made it SO much worse…_'She thought as she sighed and entered the bathroom.

'_Cookie?_'Sasuke asked himself, '_She made it worse. Ha._' He smirked and made his way to his kitchen for the breakfast of champions; tomatoes!

Meanwhile, Sakura was in Sasuke's bathroom, completely and utterly confused.

A swirl of the colors black and white were all Sakura saw as she spun around and around in circles, searching for the towels.

"Where are the towels? Where are the towels? … Where-are-the-towels?" She asked as she stopped spinning, and looked in the dirty clothes hamper. '_Well, I found a towel, but… not exactly what I was looking for._' She thought as she looked at the one navy blue towel in the midst of a swamp of black and dark clothing. "Oh well, I will find them when I get out!" She announced cheerfully as she stepped into the shower, and turned the handles while water poured out in a constant rhythm.

30 minutes later::

Sasuke grunted and banged on the door with his fist loudly. He heard no reply. He could hear the water still running, and someone merrily humming and singing a light and cheerful song. He banged harder, but to no prevail.

"SAKURA!!" Sasuke screamed at the door.

Her singing seized. "Yea?" He heard her reply happily.

"It's been 30 minutes. Get out." Sasuke demanded making angry faces at her through the poor door.

"Aw, Sasuke," Sakura whined, "I just started shampooing my hair!"

"**What have you been doing for the last half an hour?!**" Sasuke screamed angrily.

"Well, excuse me Mr. I-have-the-most-confusing-bathroom-in-the-entire-world. I JUST found shampoo I can use."

"Why didn't you just use the axe?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"Like I'm going to use GUY shampoo!" She screamed.

She looked at all of his shampoos, body scrubs, and body washes sitting all around the bathtub; all were axe.

"You sure have a lot of axe." Sakura commented as she picked up various bottles. "Clix, Phoenix , Tsunami… Voo doo?!" She began to laugh. "No wonder so man y girls are attracted to you! It says right here: 'The axe effect may result in, but is not limited to, unrelenting female attention… AND/OR LATE NIGHTS!!" Sakura laughed hysterically almost on the floor.

"Just hurry up." Sasuke sighed.

"Alright, Alright." Sakura said in a kiddy voice.

"Hn, just hurry." Sasuke told her as he journeyed back to the couch were he plopped himself and stared at the television screen. A few minutes later he head Sakura scream with laughter.

"Late party? Long night? Groggy morning?! HA! Sasuke you dog!!" After her out of control laughter, he heard the water turn off.

"Hey Sasuke…" She began, "Where do you keep the towels?"

"In the closet hallway." He answered keeping his eyes glued on the screen.

"Crap… Can you get me one?" She asked.

"… No." Sasuke replied with wide eyes. He remembered the 'towel-incident' that had happened last night.

"Why?"

Sasuke was deep in thought, and didn't answer. Sakura waited a few moments until screaming at the top of her lungs, "SASUKE?!"

Sasuke quickly retaliated, "Do you REALLY even know what a towel is?!"

"YEA! What kind of stupid question is that?!" Sakura yelled.

"Hn, whatever."

"You know what? I'll cover up with YOUR hoodie, and then I will go get a towel! How about that?!"

Sasuke dragged himself up, muttering inaudible things while he made his way to the closet. He grabbed a black towel, and headed for the bathroom door, where Sakura was waiting impatiently. She had her head stuck out, and the door covered everything else. He stuck out the towel for her to grab while muttering how stupid, annoying, and troublesome (yes, Shikamaru's word.) she was. Sakura smiled sweetly and replied cheerfully, "Thank you Sasuke-k," Sakura held out the 'k' sound as she thought of something she could say. "arrrr-pet."

"Carpet?" Sasuke asked with a raise of his thin black eyebrow and a smirk on his lips.

"Yes, your carpet's… umm… dirty!" She exclaimed as she yanked the towel out of Sasuke's hand and quickly closed the door.

"Hn, whatever." Sasuke smirked as he walked back to the TV.

Sakura had one last scream. This was good because Sasuke was getting quite fed up with her disrupting his 'soaps' with her loudness. "OH MY GOSH! WHAT ABOUT SCHOOL?!"

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**a/n: **i hope you liked it.. i tried to make this one longer too :) please review!! :D


	7. Chapter 7

a/n:

here is the 7th chapter :) please tell me what you think :) i enjoy hearing your praise or your suggestions :D

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"Hn, I still don't see why I have to come."

"Sasuke, I don't care what you think, just hurry up!"

"Hn, I will go as slow as I want to."

We find Sasuke and Sakura walking to school. Actually Sakura was skipping, and Sasuke was walking very slowly. They had just finished visiting Sakura's house, so that she could get some clothes to wear to school. However, although the two were bickering, the day was quite lovely. The April sun shown brightly over the horizon, and there was not a cloud in the sky but a single strip of thin white cotton. It was humid and warm, just the way Sakura liked it. Of course, Sasuke doesn't really care about the weather much, so I don't really think he cared about the beautiful day either.

"Sasuke! We are going to be late!"

"No one's going… Why should we?"

"There is no way I'm skipping school on the 2nd day! Be realistic here. Everyone knows that people should skip in the middle of June or august. Skipping in April would be obvious someone's skipping." Sakura explained her odd sense of logic. "Ow… my head REALLY hurts… When will this torture end?" she screamed to the sky.

"That's a good excuse. Your head hurts. Now, let's go." Sasuke said as he turned to go back the way he had come.

"Well, where am I supposed to go?!" Sakura asked as she stood in the middle of the road with her arms in the air.

"Where ever you want. I don't care." Sasuke told her as he continued walking.

"How about this, let's make a deal." Sakura said seriously.

"Hn, what kind of deal?"

"We skip the first part of school, and then we go in at lunch, so that gives us plenty of time to rest!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

"Hn. Whatever." Sasuke said while shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey Sasuke," she said as she ran to catch up with him, "I'm hungry."

"Then eat." Sasuke told her.

"But Sasuke…"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Umm… Let's go THIS way!" she screamed as she linked arms with Sasuke and ran down the road.

"Sakura, I want to go home!" Sasuke screamed as he was being unwillingly dragged by a crazy pink-haired girl.

"Your place is boring! Let's go to Ichiraku's!" Sakura screamed cheerfully.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted angrily.

They arrived at the ramen shop quite quickly. Sakura could run. The two stepped inside to find a dopey blonde and a navy blue haired girl with lavender eyes.

"You guys skip too?" Sakura asked sitting beside Hinata while Sasuke sat beside the blonde.

"Yes," Hinata answered, "But it was Naruto-kun's idea… I don't feel good about it."

"Yeah, Sasuke and I are going back during lunch. Right, Sasuke?" She smiled at him.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Sakura-chan, I am SO sorry! I had to take care of Hinata-chan…" Hinata blushed three shades deep of red, "And then Sasuke just took off with you…." GASP! "**DID YOU DO ANYTHING TO HER?!"** Naruto screamed at Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at him; Hinata looked at sakura while Sakura hit herself in the forehead with her hand and sweat dropped. "… Hell no." Sasuke replied.

Naruto sighed, "That's a relief."

"So, off that subject…" Sakura said nervously, "Are you guys going to skip all day?"

"Well, I was planning on it, but if Hinata-chan doesn't want too, we can go in during lunch as well."

"A-are you sure N-naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered.

"Yep!" Naruto smiled his dopey wide smile and his hands behind his head, which Hinata thought was adorable.

"Hey, can we get some service over here?! I'm starving!" Naruto shouted.

"Alright, geez, I'm coming." The old man said, "What can I do for you?"

Everyone ordered and ate. They waited until 11:00 before heading off to school.

Sakura was skipping slowly down the road humming merrily once again while Sasuke was grunting and walking with his hands shoved in his pockets, Hinata was walking alongside Sakura, and Naruto was with the ice cube, walking with his hands behind his head.

"Sakura." Sasuke said. However, no reply came, but some humming. "Oi, Sakura!" Sasuke said louder.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed mockingly as she stopped skipping and turned to face him, "What?" Naruto picked up his pace and began to walk ahead with Hinata.

"Why do I have to go?"

"You didn't HAVE to come! I don't care, go home if you want." Sakura explained as Sasuke had caught up with her, and they began to walk. "But remember, you aren't the one with a hang over, so what makes you so eager to stay home?"

"You." Sasuke replied bluntly.

"Aww Sasuke, I love you too!" Sakura smiled and put her hands over her heart. She rolled her eyes, and continued to skip and hum and catch up with Naruto and Hinata. "You can leave if you want."

"Hn." She heard Sasuke grunt a few minutes later.

She smiled, '_He stayed._' She thought to her self.

In lunch::

Sakura quickly lunged to the next tree followed by three other swift people. The pink-haired kunoichi eyed her prey. She leapt to the sakura tree, and looked down at the blonde haired girl eating her lunch in complete bliss, so unknowing of what was about to befall her. Well, it wasn't complete bliss, she was screaming at Chouji for eating her food and at Shikamaru for calling her troublesome. Kiba was petting Akamaru and giving him some of his own food. Shino was under the tree looking at the bugs on his hand. Rock lee, Neji, and Ten-ten don't have lunch with the 9th graders of course. They are in high school.

'_Everything according to plan… he he he._' Sakura laughed evilly. Suddenly, Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata all jumped down and landing on the ground. They walked casually over to the table and took their normal seats. Sakura gaped, '_WHAT ABOUT MY PERFECT PLAN?!_' she inwardly whined, '_Oh well, I can still jump on Ino._' With that she jumped on the poor and surprised blonde haired girl.

"HOLY CRAP!!" Ino screamed as the 100 pound laughing Sakura landed on her.

"HA HA HA!!!" Sakura laughed as she pulled herself off of Ino. Ino looked mad, but then saw it was Sakura and got up laughing to. The girls hugged and sat down.

"You scared me to death!" Ino exclaimed, "I thought it was like a big bird or something!"

Sakura continued to laugh in reply, everyone outside, everyone inside and everyone at their table were staring at them (except Hinata, she was used to this). However, the two didn't care. Ino continued to eat, and Sakura took her seat between Ino and Hinata, and then kept blabbering on about useless stuff.

6th period (two periods after lunch)::

Kakashi wrote an assignment on the board, and while his students were working quietly, he took his place behind his oak desk with his favorite orange book in his hands. His eyes were glued to the pages, and every once in a while you could hear a perverted snicker escape from the man's lips. One brave young student slowly raised his hand. He got no response from the 'busy' teacher, so he cleared his throat and stood up in an attempt to get his attention. He was successful, and as Kakashi was glaring at him with his visible eye he scurried up the courage to say, "Kakashi-sensei… I thought you weren't allowed to have porn in school."

Kakashi intensified his gaze sending chills up the teenager's spine. "This is not porn. This is a delightful adult novel about the nature of men and women. There is a difference." He replied as he glanced down at his book once again, and signaled the boy to sit down with his hand, "Now, if you disrupt my class again, I will not be responsible for what happens to you." He looked up and smiled, but the kid looked terrified. The boy began working once again, and Kakashi was reading. All was well.

Sakura was working intently on this assignment, but it was hard to focus when she knew Sai was staring at her. She swiveled the lollipop stick around with her thumb and index finger, making a _clank_ sound against her teeth. She had found the answer to number one and was about to write it down when Sai leans over to her and says, "I saw you at the party last night."

"I saw you too." Sakura replied not looking up from her writing.

Sai smiled, "Was that before or after you were drunk?"

She stopped writing, '_So he knows…_' Sakura sighed before answering, "Before."

"I was coming over to say hello, but Uchiha ran off with you. I was worried." Sai wasn't stupid. He had noticed Sasuke glaring from the other side of the room since he had leaned in toward Sakura.

A few minutes of silence before Sai had gotten an idea that would make the Uchiha insanely jealous. Not to mention his anger would go far beyond the highest reading on the scale. He scooted his desk closer to Sakura's and quietly whispered in her ear, "What flavor is that lollipop?"

She looked at him strangely. "Excuse me?"

"What flavor is it?" Sai repeated with a smile.

"Umm… strawberry." Sakura replied as she took the sucker out of her mouth and examined the tiny little ball of flavor on the stick. She placed it back in her mouth and bit it.

Sai took a quick glance at Sasuke to make sure he was witnessing his show. Which to his pleasure, he was. "I like strawberry, can I have a taste?" He asked.

"I'm so sorry… I just bit it… It's gone." Sakura replied as she looked down sorrowfully.

Sai laughed playfully, and to her bewilderment placed his hand on her chin and lifted her face up to his. He said loudly, "There's still some flavor in your mouth, isn't there?" Sai told her as he smiled and tilted his head to the side, and then threw a death glare at Sasuke.

Sakura felt heat flush across her cheeks, as everyone in the class stared at them. She turned away from embarrassment as Sasuke had activated sharingan. '**YOU'RE DEAD.**' Sasuke mouthed to Sai.

'**Bite me.**' Sai's nonverbal response came with another false smile and tilted head.

After class:

Sakura walked slowly out of the classroom, completely zoned out. '_Did he actually mean that? ... No, he couldn't have… he was just messing around._' She reassured herself. '_Wait… did he?!_' Or at least she thought she had.

The pink-haired girl was so oblivious to her surroundings that she had barely noticed Sasuke's presence coming from behind her. When he began to speak, he could not tell that she wasn't listening to any voice of reason.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted a greeting.

"Hey Sasuke." Sakura replied, still staring off into space.

Sasuke caught up, and began to walk beside her down the long treacherous hallway. "Don't listen to Sai. Like I said he's a pervert. Do not take his words to heart."

"I know." Sakura said, but she wasn't fully listening. She was not in her body right now, the words just slipped out of her mouth like trying to handle a wet bar of slick soap. Sakura had no idea what he was saying; she was on auto-pilot.

"No you don't." Sasuke argued looking down the endless hallway, "He's worse then you know. He gets a sick joy out of using people to get what he wants."

"Mmhmm." Sakura agreed, but that was the wrong time to agree. However, she didn't know that, and Sasuke had finally caught on that she hadn't been paying attention.

"And, you are the most idiotic person ever." Sasuke told Sakura as he turned his head to face her, still keeping up his steady pace.

"Oh, yep, tell me about it." Sakura told him, still obliviously looking ahead with a glazed look in her eye.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

Sakura snapped back into reality, "I'm sorry, what were you saying Sasuke?"

"Nothing." Sasuke replied with a deep sigh and a roll of his eyes.

"Let me guess." Sakura said as she placed her hand on her chin and pretended to think very hard. "You saw that whole incident with Sai and wanted to warn me some more about how he is tainted?"

"Hn." In Sasuke-language that means 'Yes, you are right, but I'm not going to admit that you are'.

"Well, I guess he can be," Sakura reasoned, "but he can still be really nice."

"No he can't." Sasuke stated bluntly.

"Yes, he can. You would be surprised at how well-mannered he is around me. That is the first time I have seen him do anything like that." She stated matter-of-factly.

Sasuke mumbled, "You didn't see him last night."

"I don't care, Sasuke, I still like him." Sakura said in defense, "Why are you so protective any way? You aren't my father."

"**How can you still like him…?**" Sasuke asked ignoring the last statement.

"Because, unlike some people Sasuke, he's actually nice to me!" Sakura raised her voice.

Sasuke stopped walking and turned to face her. "**HE DOESN'T EVEN LIKE YOU! HE'S USING YOU TO GET TO ME! HE'S A JERK! I HATE HIM! HOW COULD YOU LIKE HIM?!**" Sasuke screamed.

Sakura gave him a deadly glare while she darkly told him, "Does the world ALWAYS have to revolve around you?! Maybe this isn't about you Sasuke!" She threw her arms in the air dramatically, causing people to eavesdrop and whisper. "Also, look, I'm not a little girl. I don't need you to protect me anymore! Don't you think I can chose who I like… by myself?! I don't need the 'Sasuke seal of approval' okay?! So, just leave me alone, I don't need your opinion."

Her words stabbed him like a knife through the chest. All he could do was watch her walk off with her 'sissy attitude' walk, leaving him deprived of all pride he had left. '_Damn you. I try to protect you, and this is what happens. You don't need me, huh? Fine, find out by yourself, you damn girl. Hn. Not like I care._' Sasuke thought harshly.

"You got told, Uchiha. Well, looks like I win." Sai said with a smile spread across his face and a shrug if his shoulders.

"Sai, leave me alone." Sasuke growled.

"What are you crushed? Are you sad? Do you want to chase down pinky and apologize, or go cry in your emo corner?" Sai teased, keeping his tone and facial expressions the same. This made it all the more insulting.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he began to walk away, but at the last minute, turned his head to face Sai, "Do you even like her?"

"No." Sai answered with a grin while Sasuke turned to walk away. "So, do you?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he continued on his way.

Two months later:

It was the end of another 'exciting' day in the school life of the Naruto characters. Sasuke and Sakura still refused to talk to each other. Instead, they sent scary death glares at each other from across rooms. Rumor has it, if you get in between them while they are glaring, you die. Although no one wants to see if this theory is true, because, well, who wants to die?

The three best friends were looking at the bulletin board to see if any thing interesting was coming up. Alas, no such luck.

"Ugh… we have the most boring school ever…" Ino complained.

"Ooo… chess club meeting at 4:00 on Thursday. Wouldn't want to miss that, huh?" Sakura asked sarcastically pointing to a dull gray flyer thumb-tacked to the board.

"Tennis practice next Tuesday." Hinata said hopefully, pointing to a dull purple piece of paper.

"Well, that's good, but I was hoping for something more…" Ino stopped in mid-sentence with her mouth wide open.

"What?" Sakura asked, but then she saw the bright pink sparkly paper in the middle of the board that had been covered with 1,000,000 other notices/attentions/flyers. Then, she too gaped, and Hinata joined. The flyer said a prom was to be held the following week. (A/N: the prom was for mostly everyone doing well on exams. They will be attending with the highschool prom, so Ten-ten, Neji, and Rock lee will be going as well.)

"Oh… my…. Gosh… how did we miss this?! FOR A MONTH?!" Ino asked the bulletin board.

"I… need… to… go… SHOPPING!" Sakura screamed.

Sakura and Ino started to squeal and jump up and down like best friends do, while Hinata kept gaping.

"Can you believe it?! THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE FIRST YEAR THEY ARE DOING THIS!!" Sakura squealed excitedly.

"I KNOW!!" Ino screamed, attracting attention from other students, but they looked with less interest because they were kind of used to this.

Hinata moved her gaping face toward them and it slowly formed a sad facial expression as she whined, "I... don't have a dress… and it's next week…"

Sakura and Ino looked at each other out of surprise. Whining is SO not like the Hinata they knew. There were a couple moments of silence until Ino broke the ice. "Do you guys want to go shopping this weekend?"

"YEAH and we can have a sleep over!!" Sakura added.

"OOO and we can paint our nails and do our hair too!" someone sarcastically chimed in.

"Ten-ten… THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!!" Ino yelled.

The brown haired girl rolled her eyes and replied, "I was kidding."

"We weren't!" Sakura exclaimed with a priceless excited face.

Ino had an idea, and she always let it be known, "I HAVE AN IDEA!!" Ino screamed.

"Good, that's a first." Ten-ten commented.

"Hey, there's a first for everything, right?" Sakura said as she jabbed Ten-ten's side with a sly smile.

Ino had ignored them and went on with her plan of torture. "We could invite the guys to the mall. We need guy's opinions, y'know!" Ino exclaimed in a matter-of-factly tone of voice.

"That's a great idea, Ino!" Hinata told her happily; obviously because Naruto was in the mix of 'the boys'.

"Wow, finally putting that brain to good use?" Ten-ten asked playfully hitting Ino on the head.

"Yup-yup, now we just need to lure them…" Ino began to plot her evil plan.

Sakura was all for it, except for one tiny detail. She did not want Sasuke going, but she knew he would be thrown in. She acted excited, and thought she would make herself get over it. Not for herself, but for her friends.

"You know what else I heard?" Ten-ten asked the group.

"What?!" they all replied in unison.

"I heard the prom-committee is looking for a few bands to play at the dance, are we interested?"

"HECK YES!!!" Ino screamed.

"Most definitely!" Hinata happily replied.

"Oh, I could TOTALLY see this happening! Ten-ten, you'd be on drums. Sakura would sing, I would be on electric guitar, and Hinata will play bass!" Ino shouted.

Everyone had a girly moment of squealing and jumping up and down, except Sakura. She had her doubts.

"I don't think I can sing in front of that many people, guys." Sakura stated with her arms crossed and shook her head back and forth like a child.

"Come on, Sakura! You are so good!!" Ino complimented.

"You have to, who else is going to help ME get rid of stage fright?" Hinata asked with a smile and a glint of hope in her lavender eyes.

"Mmhmm! Here's the trick," Ten-ten leaned in towards the group, and everyone huddled around her, "You imagine everyone in their underwear! Especially Sai!" Ten-ten teased as she elbowed Sakura right below the rib cage.

They all giggled loudly, but then noticed everyone was staring at them. Thus, they quickly looked around and started to walk away from the scene of the crime. Sakura laughed as she said, "Thanks guys. So Friday after school we can go to the mall, okay? Then on Saturday we can practice for the band thing."

"Sounds like a plan," Ino winked at Sakura then turned to Ten-ten and told her, "Now, do you want to do the sleep over?"

Ten-ten sighed; she knew that was coming up. She sighed. "Fine." The girls laughed once again.

They just wandered around the hallways talking and such. Some how in the midst of their conversation, the subject had turned to boys.

"I wish that Naruto-kun would ask me to prom…" Hinata stated with a sigh.

Ino held a smile on her face as she said, "Do you want me to hurt him if he doesn't ask you?" Hinata looked at her with a frightened expression. "Chill, I was just kidding. Shikamaru better ask me." Ino said with a clenched her fist.

"Hopefully Sai will ask me." Sakura giggled.

"So, Ten-ten," Ino asked looking at the bun-girl, "who do you want to ask you?"

Ten-ten frantically blushed. Sakura could feel the heat flowing from her face, and she was standing next to her. Ten-ten tried to turn away so no one would see her, but the damage had already been done. While she looked away she managed to stutter a "N-n-no one…"

"Aww, Ten-Ten!" Sakura urged as she pushed the brown haired girl playfully, "Who is it?"

"Is it Kiba?" Ino asked putting her 'sleuth' face on and acted as if she had uncovered a well-known unsolved mystery.

"No." Ten-ten stated, looking back at her friends. She figured it didn't really matter any more; they had already seen her blush.

"I bet its Neji." Hinata stated.

"I'll see that bet and raise you! You do seem to have a thing for him." Sakura explained as all of the girls were giving Ten-ten 'I-know-it-is-so-just-say-it-already' faces.

Ten-ten had no response, only her eyes kept in front of her. Her friends literally jumped on her. "IT IS NEJI!" They all shouted.

"What's Neji?" Neji asked coming up the hallway when he heard his name. Instead of finding the person who said his name, he found a pile of girls on Ten-ten.

All the girls giggled, while poor Ten-ten just lay there on the floor mumbling to her self with a sweat drop appearing beside her head as a sign of frustration. At least her blush had gone down to a dull pink.

"I don't want to know, do I?" Neji asked Ten-ten with a confused face.

"No. No, you don't." Ten-ten replied bluntly as she shook her head. The shake was partly as an answer, but partly in disapproval of her friends' actions.

"Well, would you want to spar with me today?" Neji asked casually.

"Sure, why not? If I can escape this mess, of course." Ten-ten said with the cutest smile she could put on her face.

He smirked, then walked off leaving the girl pile. Ten-ten's friends jumped on her again, but not literally this time.

"Oh my gosh, what if he asks you to go to prom while you are 'sparring'?!" Ino asked excitedly making the quotation marks with her two first fingers.

"He wouldn't." Ten-ten audibly sighed, "I've known Neji a long time. There's no way hle would ever see me as anything more than a sparring partner."

"You never know!" Sakura exclaimed at her with a wink of her left eye.

"Yeah, okay. Will you guys get off me now? Unwanted attention!" Ten-ten said as she looked around and noticed the all the people staring at them.

"Oh right!" the blonde, navy-blue, and pink haired girls shouted with a tilt of their heads. And all four sweat dropped.

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**a/n: **hope you liked :) please review!!! :D


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n: **so i recently got a few reviews that kinda bummed me out :P but, i thought, eh well everyone's a critic right? i'm sorry that i didn't write the story to your liking, perhaps i'll write another one where Sakura is more suitable to your liking :) or! you can write a story :) i would be happy to read it :) either way, here is the next chapter for anyone who wishes to read it :) please review, i like to know what you think :)

* * *

FRIDAY:

The day was dark and gloomy. Dark clouds hung in the sky, looking like they were about to explode with a down pour of water, and some thin clouds hung down below, creating blurry visions for the 10 teenagers making their way to the mall.

The girls and Rock lee were in front, laughing and gossiping about who was going out with who and so forth, so on. The boys lagged behind with their 'cool poses'. Naruto had his hands behind his head, Shikamaru was tilted back with hands in pockets, and Sasuke stood straight with his hands shoved in his pockets as well; Neji and Kiba just sauntered alongside their friends.

"Ino, why did you have to bring us along?" Shikamaru asked the sky.

"Because, we need your opinions!" Ino replied with an evil snicker on her face.

"Plus, it's youthful!" Rock lee added with thumbs up signs.

The whole way along their journey, Sakura could not help herself from glaring an evil glare at Uchiha. Then she would go on talking about random stuff with her friends.

"Sakura's glaring at you again." Kiba whispered to Sasuke.

"No, really?" Sasuke sarcastically replied. "It's not like it's hard to tell, she makes it so obvious."

"You got that right." Naruto commented as they entered the building as the clouds had finally burst and created a rain storm. Rock lee had made the decision of which store they should go in, and while the girls ran around finding dresses, the guys took their seats on the chairs.

"Why don't you just apologize?" Naruto asked continuing their conversation from earlier.

"Because, I have nothing to apologize for," Sasuke explained staring at the blue carpet, "She is the one who still likes that $! %*#&." (A/N: censored for your protection)

"So that's what you are upset about." Naruto gave an 'I've-totally- got-you-you-can't-hide-anything-from-me' face. "Do you _like-like_ Sakura-chan?" he asked with a sly grin and evil glint in his eye.

"Hn, no dobe." Sasuke stated calmly still keeping his gaze fixed on the floor.

"Well, you sure are acting like it!" Naruto exclaimed as he stuck his tongue out at the Uchiha.

"Yeah, and you are blind." Sasuke stated, inconspicuously changing the subject.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked as his tongue was slipped back into his mouth and his face became a portrait of utter confusion.

"Take three guesses as to who likes you in that group of girls. Exclude Lee." Sasuke told him pointing to the four girls crowding around Lee waiting for his approval of the dresses they had in their arms.

"Uh, Sakura-chan?"

". . . No dobe." Sasuke replied as he leaned his head back on the chair and started to close his eyes.

"INO?!" Naruto asked loudly, but not loud enough to be heard by the girls and Lee, while he threw on a face of pure horror and disgust.

"No." Shikamaru said as he sighed.

"Ten-ten?" Naruto asked as his confused face returned.

"Like she would ever like you." Neji scoffed as he leaned on the arm rest of his chair.

"Wow Naruto, you really are an idiot…" Kiba told him as he smacked his own forehead.

". . . Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice looking down at the ground.

"BING-BING-BING! WE HAVE A WINNER!" Kiba shouted causing the girls to look at him, "umm… that dress… is really pretty…" Kiba awkwardly told the group. He heard Lee scream, 'HE'S RIGHT!' then the girls screamed, and returned to their running around the store.

The guys laughed. "Close call there, eh, Kiba?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Kiba mockingly answered.

Sasuke turned his attention to Naruto once again, "Haven't you ever noticed she only stutters when she is around you?"

"Can we please stop talking about my cousin and the baka in the same sentence?" Neji asked.

Naruto wasn't really listening to any one; he was lost in his own thoughts. "Should I ask her to the prom?"

"She would probably faint." Kiba said.

"I think I will!" Naruto exclaimed as he stood up with his fist in the air.

"Not like it matters what I say..." Kiba said as he looked at the dopey blonde.

"It's about time," Shikamaru stated, "Now if only Neji would tell Ten-ten."

"I already did." Neji replied in a low voice.

"Annnddd?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I don't have to reveal my personal life to you."

"She turned him down cold…" Kiba said slowly shaking his head.

"No." Neji replied keeping his stern face.

"She said yes?" Naruto excitedly asked.

Neji immediately changed the subject, "So, Shikamaru, are you going to ask Ino?"

"What's the point? Even if I don't, she will still drag me with her… she is so troublesome."

"So Sasuke, you asking Sakura?" Kiba asked completely forgeting about his fight.

Sasuke glared at him with piercing eyes. Kiba fell out of his seat in fright.

"He and Sakura are having a lover's quarrel." Naruto stated matter-of-factly. Just as he had muttered the last syllable, Sasuke had hit him on the head very hard.

"There is no chance in hell I would **ever** take her." Sasuke said with his eyes closed once more.

Kiba and Naruto looked at each other. "DENIAL!!" They screamed.

"Hn."

The girl's conversation:

'_Death_, _Death_, _Death_.' Sakura thought as she glared at the black haired boy through the clothing rack. He looked comfortable relaxing while Naruto was up jumping around, and the other guys were telling him to shut up and sit down. A smile slowly spread across her face as she stared at the scene. It really reminded her of the old days; back when she still had feelings for-

"My lovely Sakura-chan!" Rock lee screamed as he came to her startling the pink haired girl so much she had jumped 3 feet in the air. "Spying? VERY unyouthful Sakura-chan… But you make it look so youthful!"

"Hey Lee." She awkwardly greeted him as she turned around to be face-to-face with a black piece of cloth.

"I thought this would look very youthful on you!" Rock lee smiled and gave her a thumb up sign with his hand not holding the plain black mini-dress.

"No thanks. It's really pretty, but not very 'me'." Sakura explained.

"I promise I will continue searching until I find the right dress for you, my succulent cherry-blossom! Or I will die trying!" Rock lee screamed as he ran through the store on his search.

Sakura sighed as she started to walk back and continue her own search, when someone stopped her.

"What's up with you and Sasuke?" Ten-ten asked.

"It's nothing really, just him being an over-protective jerk 24/7."

"That's it? Two whole months of fighting for that?" Ten-ten asked confused face.

"He won't let **ME **chose who **I** want to like! I mean, they are my feelings…" Sakura explained to the ground more than Ten-ten.

"A lover's quarrel…" Ino stated in a sing-song as she hung on the rack behind Sakura with a dazed look in her eyes. Hinata came by to see what was up as well.

"No. I like Sai." Sakura gritted through her teeth and 'hmmphed'. "On a **BETTER** note, Did Neji ask you?"

Ten-ten blushed furiously, "umm… he…"

Ino didn't let her finish her sentence, "OH MY GOSH! DID YOU SAY YES?!"

Ten-ten nodded her head and said a faint 'Mmhmm'.

"AHHH!!" Sakura and Ino excitedly screamed, while Hinata congratulated and hugged Ten-ten.

"What's going on?" One of the guys yelled when they had heard the screaming.

"NOTHING!" Sakura yelled back and all the girls giggled as they went back to their shopping, determined to find a dress for the up-coming prom night.

The girls ran to the dressing rooms with their dresses hand-picked from Rock lee. Lee took his rightful place outside of the dressing rooms and was the 'announcer'. "So, how is everyone doing tonight?" Rock lee asked, alas, he got nothing but blank stares from the 5 boys sitting on the couches and you could distinctly hear the sound of crickets chirping. Lee brushed off the hint that the guys want to be ANYWHERE but there at the moment and continued to speak into his 'microphone'. (which happened to be his fist turned sideways up to his mouth) "First, up is the radiant, Ten-ten! Doesn't she look youthful?" Rock lee announced as Ten-ten came into the room.

She was wearing a light pink, form fitting off-the-shoulder dress that came a little bit above the knee. It had black Chinese designs running up the 5 inch slit of the dress, and ending at her chest. (sort of like those random designs you see at the beginning of Mulan. It's kind of like a wicked-looking vine.)

"Does this dress, pass of fail?" Rock lee asked as Ten-ten curtsied.

"Pass!" they all said, and Naruto and Kiba gave a thumb up sign.

Ten-ten turned back to dressing room bouncing up and down, happy Neji said pass.

"Next is the loud one, Ino!"

"HEY!" Ino screamed at Lee with hands on her hips. The dress that she was wearing was a short black mini dress with one strap on the left side to hold it up. A large arrow was cut out of the bottom of it, so underneath, to prevent anything from showing, was a cute light pink mini-skirt. To add spice to the outfit, this is Ino =D, a light pink sash hung around her waist.

"Pass...?" Rock lee asked with a questioning eyebrow as he paused for emphasize. "or fail?"

"Pass." Everyone's unenthusiastic voice was heard, except a certain sleeping chuunin. Naruto jabbed him in the side causing Shikamaru to spring forward in his chair. He glared at Naruto and began to say something, but Naruto pointed at the blonde haired girl waiting for shikamaru's attention. Shikamaru turned his head to se what Naruto was pointing at. Ino struck a cute pose and pointed a peace sign at the lazy teenager.

Shikamaru's eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open. Ino smiled at his loss for words. A few seconds passed by, and Kiba finally shook Shikamaru...violently... in effort to wake him up from his 'day dream'. It was successful, and Shikamaru said the only word that came to mind, "wow."

Ino cutely smiled and winked at him as she sauntered back into the dressing rooms.

"So... any last thoughts about asking Ino?" Kiba asked with a sly smile.

"She is so troublesome." Shikamaru commented after he watched her walk all the way back to the door of the dressing room.

"Next is our cute little black-haired kunoichi, Hinata!" Rock lee exclaimed, changing the subject.

Right on cue, Hinata came through the door looking at her twideling index fingers nervously. She wore a black halter stlye dress that came up about 2 inches above the knee, and it had a big light pink bow in the middle of the stomach of the dress. The dress was very simple, but looked very pretty on hinata.

"Pass or-" Rock lee started.

"PASS!!!" Naruto screamed as he jumped to his feet with two thumbs up. "Hinata, will you go to the prom with me?!"

"N-naruto-k-kun..." Hinata stuttered as she fainted backwards.

"I told you." Kiba said matter-of-factly with his arms crossed and nodding his head.

Naruto had a look of sheer worry all over his face, "Hinata-chan, are you-"

"It's fine Naruto, we've got this taken care of..." Ino told him as she stepped out into the room in her own clothes. "Ten-ten, it happened." She screamed to Ten-ten.

"I figured it would." Ten-ten said as she sighed and picked up the fainted girl, and brought her in to the dressing room. Ino took a seat on the arm of the chair where Shikamaru was sitting, and he didn't seem to mind.

"And last, but defiantly not least," Rock lee enthusiastically announced, "My succulent," Sasuke's eye twitched. _'His?!__'_ "wonderful," '_He needs to shut up now... we get the point._' "beautiful cherry blossom, Sakura!"

As Lee said Sakura, the pink-haired girl walked out in a pale pink short kimono that came to her middle thigh. The sleeves were traditional and the design was black flowers polka-dotting the dress. The band around her stomach matched the flowers and had a traditional large black bow in the back of the dress located at her lower back.

"Oh, doesn't she look absolutely stunning?!" Rock lee screamed as he pointed at Sakura to show them all how lovely she looked. Tears were forming in Lee's eyes, but were wiped away before any one could tease him. Through his tears and lump in his throat, Rock Lee managed to ask, "Pass or fail?"

"Sakura, you look _so_ beautiful!" Ino commented softly.

"Thank you." Sakura said as she bowed at her compliment.

"Pass!" Only four were heard, Sakura lifted her head to see which did not like the dress.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he turned his head away. '_She looks amzing, but I can't let her think that. wait... since when do I care? . . . DID I SAY SHE LOOKED AMAZING?!_' Sasuke mentally cursed himself and was making funny faces of fake disgust as Sakura popped a vein in her forehead.

Her teeth were grinding and her jaws were locked down in a smile, but not a happy one. It was forced and you could tell it. "What's the matter? Don't you like it Sasuke-_KUN_?" she asked through her gritted teeth as one eye was twitching.

Sasuke stuck his tongue out and made a funny face, and Naruto jabbed him in the side as if to say, 'If you do not want to be killed I suggest you at least say pass.' or 'Teme, you seriously have a death wish, don't you?'

"Pass." Sasuke muttered barely audible.

Sakura 'hmmphed' as she turned on her heel and was about to began her voyage back to the dressing rooms, but a voice called out and stopped her. "Well, I think she looks beautiful."

Sasuke twitched, he hated that voice. That voice was the voice Sasuke hated more than anyone else's. This same voice made Sakura stop dead in her tracks. Sai's voice. "Hey Sakura, come here for a second."

Sasuke felt his anger rise and begin to boil, but refused to let it show. Instead he sunk in his seat.

Sakura made a confused face to Ino, Ten-ten, and Hinata (who was happily awake now, and knowing it was not a dream) and the three returned her face with ones of excitement and joy. They were mouthing for her to go and shooing her with their hands.

The pink-haired kunoichi walked right past Sasuke without one glance, she kept her eye on her target, Sai. She made her way and stood before him with a cute smile on her lips. Sai, knowing everyone including Uchiha, was watching, linked hands with her and pulled her over behind a clothing rack. Meanwhile Sasuke was watching them with daggers shooting out of his eyes.

"You do look very beautiful." Sai said with his famous smile.

"Thank you." Sakura said as she bowed her head, but she felt his fingers lightly grasp her chin and lift her face up to meet his. Sakura felt heat coming off her face, and she knew she was blushing furiously.

He removed his fingers as he said, "You fill it out quite nicely. Haruno Sakura, would you like to go to prom with me?"

Sakura went in to 5 shades of red. She looked over to her friends through the rack. Ino, Ten-ten, and Hinata were no where to be seen, at least not in her field of vision, the guys were talking amongst themselves, except Sasuke. She looked over to find him glaring daggers at Sai, and he had activated his sharingan. As soon as he saw Sakura had seen him, he turned around and acted like nothing had ever happened.

A burst of pride and anger swelled up in Sakura's stomach, and she knew her answer. "I would love to." She said as she smiled widely. The smile could be falsely accused of being genuine, but even she wasn't sure if it was. Though Sai seemed to be fooled.

"Good, I will see you then." He said as he grabbed her waist into a hug. Sakura felt her face radiate with warmth into Sai's black shirt, and she was sure he could feel it.

Sai left, and Sakura journeyed back to her friends with mixed feelings. She didn't really have an expression on her face, mostly because she couldn't really think of what she felt most. Happiness or joy, or was it the guilt and sorrow that she felt more of in her heart? She wasn't sure.

She walked by Sasuke, not even wanting to glare at him for being the protective jerk again. The confused girl pushed open the dressing room door as she forced herself to go through. She left the door open since all of them had changed.

Right inside the door Hinata, Ten-ten, and Ino were all saying their last pieces of gossip they hadn't gotten to say, and all were giggling. They heard the door, and looked to find a confused Sakura. The three girls gave her expressions that read, 'Weeellll?'

"Sai asked me." Sakura answered them, she tried to sound happy, but she didn't know if she had succeeded.

"Oh, that is SO cool!" Ino exclaimed. According to Ino's reaction, she sounded okay, but not the thrilling happy because Ino would have started screaming.

"Yeah..." she said as her eyes flew through the door at Sasuke who was shrunk in his seat staring at the floor with his laughing all around him.

"Hello?" Ten-ten asked, " I asked you a question... did you hear me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, what did you say?" Sakura asked turning back to her friends.

"Never mind that, are you okay?" Ino asked with a worried look across her face.

"Of course!" Sakura lied as she pulled out her smile that fooled Sai. Her friends looked a little better, but still skeptical.

"Sakura, are you sure?" Hinata asked concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry about me! Hey, I mean I got my wish!" Sakura exclaimed with a lot of fake happiness that her friends could barely see through. 'Maybe_... I should have thought more about that wish..._' she thought to herself as she glanced at the place where Sasuke once was, but he was gone.

'_What are they doing...?_' Sasuke thought to himself as he struggled to see Sakura holding hands with Sai as they walked down the street through his mob of fangirls. He took one hand and pushed through the girls, and most were swooning just because he had touched them. '_I have to hurry... Ugh. I can't see them anymore._' "LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Sasuke screamed to the girls who quickly scattered away from the angry Sasuke. He began to run and some girls tried to follow, but he was too fast. As soon as he couldn't see the girls any more, and everyone was out of sight, he jumped into a bush. Then another. And another. Until finally he had caught up to the 'happy' couple. He kept jumping through, making NO noise what-so-ever, keeping up with their every movement. However, he did not see the dark haired ninja looking at each bush he was jumping into, while keeping his conversation with Sakura.

**Hey dude, are you stalking Sakura now?**

Who are you??

**I'm the inner you. Suprise!**

Hell no... please don't tell me I'm going crazy...

**You think you aren't already? I mean, you are stalking Sakura.**

I'm not stalking Sakura; I am merely spying on Sai.

**Oh yea, that's not crazy... you are just spying on a cute girl's date, who you happen to despise.**

Exactly.

**That's a real good story to tell the police when they catch you. And while you are at it, you can check off talking to yourself off your crazy list. Peace, have fun stalking Sakura, who by the way, you admitted was cute.**

SPYING ON SAI!! And I did NOT call... damn it.. I did, didn't I?

**Yep. See ya stalker.**

SPYING!!!

**Whatever.**

They walked in to the ramen place, so he jumped to the nearest bush and began to evesdrop.

"Sai, you are hilarious!" Sakura exclaimed through her laughter.

Sai wasn't stupid. He knew exactly where Sasuke was and what he was doing, and he smirked at his own cleverness and how his plan was working. Moreover, now that he knew Sasuke was extremely jealous, he had to piss him off. "So what's up with you and Uchiha?" Sai asked as they had gotten their ramen and Sakura began slurping, but stopped at the word Uchiha.

"He's just... way too overprotective. And you know, I'm not a little girl any more, I can handle myself. Now, let's please not ruin the night by bringing him up, okay?" Sakura said softly.

Sai ignored her last comment, "Is that so?" he asked as he smirked, " Maybe it's because he-"

Sasuke did not let him finish his sentence. He picked up the closest object to him, which happened to be a twig, and threw it at Sai. Although Sai's good, he was not expecting a blow to the back of the head by the great aim, Sasuke.

"OW!" Sai screamed in pain.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Sakura asked while she rubbed Sai's head.

Sasuke audibly sighed, '_Great. I try to make Sai suffer, and she loves him more..._'

After ten minutes of boring conversation, the sound of slurping noodles, and the argument of who is going to pay the bill, they left the ramen shop. As a result, Sasuke got to continue his bush jump.

Sasuke saw Sakura run and point to an ice cream stand looking like she was begging Sai. In the end, it looked like Sakura won because Sai shrugged his shoulders and Sakura was jumping up and down. Sakura ordered a scoop of chocolate and strawberry, while Sai got two scoops of vanilla.

After the man handed them their cold, creamy dessert, they found a bench, and Sasuke conveniently found a bush that was right behind them. He quickly leapt, landed in a crouching position, and watched the show.

Sakura was licking her ice cream contently, while Sai was intently watching her. From what Sasuke thought anyway... he was really looking out of the very corner of his eye to make sure Sasuke was watching. "Hey Sakura, you've got a bit of ice cream on your mouth." Sai informed her.

"Where?" She looked down and wiped the side of her lip. "Did I get it?"

'_She seriously bought that? ugh..._' Sasuke thought as he mentally gagged.

"No, I'll get it for you." He told her as he leaned in, ready for Uchiha to do something stupid to stop him. The plan was right on schedule. Sasuke did not think, he just threw the first thing he laid his hands on, an acorn. It almost hit Sai, but the boy was expecting it this time, and caught it in the nick off time right before it hit his cheek. Sakura looked at him with amazement, while Sai looked through the sky with no expression visible on his face "What... is there some evil squirrel out to get me?" he asked the bush where Sasuke was hiding. He leaned in and was moments away from uncovering him when Sakura saved the day.

"Forget about it Sai, look at the sunset," she said as she sighed and pointed to the horizon. The mixture of the pink-orange sky with purple clouds was breath-taking. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"mmhmm." Sai agreed as he allowed his smile to appear.

_'Don't say it-_' Sasuke mentally threatened.

"But not as beautiful as you." Sai told her as he draped his arm across Sakura's shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at the bush as a sign saying, '_Ha ha, stupid Uchiha. I got what you want. What ya gonna do about it?'_

'_Tch, that was SO corny... I think I'm going to be sick..._' Sasuke thought as he put his finger in his mouth and made a gag noise. Sai and Sakura didn't seem to hear, but he still had his arm around her. Sasuke was going to put an end to that. He reached up to the bench and slapped Sai's arm. Sai, very offended, looked at the bush with an eyebrow raised and a facial expression you would give to a cat who spoke out of the blue.

He shook off the slap, and turned his attention to Sakura. "Well, I should be getting you home." He said as he linked his hand with Sakura's before looking at the bush, "Maybe the rabid squirrel won't follow us."

Sai and Sakura took their places side-by-side in front of the door. Sai was staring directly at Sakura, while she was staring at her green front door as if it was the most exciting thing on this earth. Sasuke had taken his rightful place as well, in a tree in Sakura's front yard.

Sakura had finally spoke, "Well, I guess this is good night." she said as she took hold of the door knob.

"Wait Sakura." Sai commanded as he placed his hand on Sakura's upper neck, and began to lean in. Sakura had a confused look on her face, and did not seem like she wanted the kiss.

Sasuke smirked, but began to feel uneasy as Sai continued to lower himself in the direction of Sakura. Sasuke immediately jumped out of the bush and pounced on Sai. He began to strangle Sai, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. They began to roll around, hands around each other's necks, while Sakura stared at them dumbfounded. "SASUKE?!"

"Get off me, stalker." Sai said as he pushed Sasuke off himself. Both boys stood off the ground.

Sai began brushing himself off as Sasuke pointed at Sakura and randomly screamed, "I WAS NOT SPYING ON YOU!!!"

"THEN WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU DOING?! OUT FOR YOUR EVENING TREE DIVE??!!" Sakura yelled at him.

"He tried to kiss you!" Sasuke screamed in defense as he pointed at the boy beside him.

"I know..." Sai mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

"GOSH! I said I can protect myself! I'M A FREAKIN' NINJA! DON'T YOU THINK I CAN MAKE GOOD CHOICES?!" Sakura screamed as she got in Sasuke's face. Sai was invisible watching the two argue.

"He could have raped you!" Sasuke yelled.

"All... he did... was try... to kiss me!!" Sakura screamed through gritted teeth. She was so close to him now, that their noses were 4 centimeters away from each other.

"I know!" Sai mumbled again, angry he had been forgotten about.

"Hn. Whatever. You aren't worth my time." Sasuke said as he got back into his character and beginning on his way home.

"And what's THAT supposed to mean?" Sakura screamed while stomping her foot and clenching her fist at the Uchiha walking away from her.

"Well, we can get back to business. Maybe I could come in..." Sai smirked as he made his way toward the angry pink-haired girl, standing in the middle of the yard with clenched fists by her sides glaring at the dark figure leaving the scene.

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder a bit, enough to see Sai's face. "Hell no. Go home." He commanded.

"SASUKE!"

"It's fine Sakura. Good night and sweet dreams." He smiled at her as she began walking back to her door. "Maybe I'll see you later tonight." He whispered as he walked past the Uchiha standing at the edge of the yard.

"You disgust me." Sasuke said to Sai as he passed the raven-haired boy.

Sai shrugged as he told the dark figure, "Hey, at least I'm not a stalker, rabid squirrel." he turned around and pegged Sasuke on the cheek with an acorn, then continued on his way home. Sasuke looked confused for a moment, but then a smirk appeared on his face. '_He knew I was there all along... no wonder her did all those things... It was all to make me mad. Damn him... I gave him satisfactory of it too..._' He turned his gaze to where Sai had last been, but found he was out of sight. Then, He looked at Sakura's window, until the light came on, and he knew she had gotten in safely, before heading home himself.

The next day:

Sakura was loading books into her book bag as fast as she could after a long, uneventful school day. She couldn't wait to get home to call Ino and scream about the prom coming up this Friday. Moreover, her parents want to reward her for getting awesome grades in school so far, so they are taking her to her favorite restaurant for dinner. When she was done packing up, she hit her locker door to close it and began to run off. However, she stopped suddenly when she realized she didn't hear it shut. She raced back to it to find it was indeed open. Sakura hit it harder, but like a boomerang, it came right back to her. She gave it a long hard glare then hit it three more times. "GYAA! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!" she screamed in frustration as she focused her chakra into her fist. Then, with all the strength she could muster (which is a whole freakin' lot) she slammed the door closed. It bent itself inward into her locker and steam was coming out of either side, but Sakura didn't care. She gave a happy smile as she turned to skip off, but stopped in her tracks as she heard someone "Hn." She slowly turned around to see Sasuke leaning against the locker beside where her's used to be. Beside him were his group of fan girls, who were screaming and looking frightened (along with everyone else in the hallway) at Sakura's show of strength. However, Sasuke showed no signs of being intimidated.

"Aren't you supposed to be kissing Sai right about now?" Sasuke asked keeping his face emotionless.

Sakura glared at him, then a smirk slithered across her face. "Aren't you supposed to be diving into bushes?" she asked nonchalantly, replacing her smirk with a smile and her eyes were widened cutely, full of innocence.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and glared at her. She glared back, while the fangirls had faces of confusion. '_Sasuke-kun? Diving into bushes? No way..._' To get his full glare across to Sakura he had to look down, considering he is about a head taller than she is. "You're short." Sasuke said randomly with his same emotionless tone.

Sakura gasped. "Don't call me short! I am taller than most girls in this-" She made a grr-you-don't-try-to-distract-me face. "Oh no you don't!" she said as poked Sasuke's chest, not letting him feel superior to her. "You... don't get me off subject!" she said glaring at his chest, and poked him once for every word she said. The fangirls were getting angry at the fact Sakura was even touching _their_ Sasuke-kun, while Sasuke merely looked down and smirked with amusement at the girl poking him. She looked up to him and his smirk. "Get that off of your face!!" she screamed with a hard poke and a stomp of her foot.

Ino came around the corner, and noticed Sasuke and Sakura were arguing while the fangirls were getting very upset at their lack of attention from Sasuke. Ino skipped over to Sasuke and Sakura screamed, "Good, you two are talking again!"

"Don't get used to it." Sakura said as she crossed her arms and turned away from the boy. "He's just jealous that Sai gets to take me to prom."

Sasuke grunted and rolled his eyes at her. He turned to his fangirls, and they all swooned and began to scream, "WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?!" "TAKE ME!!" "I'M THE PRETTIEST, SO TAKE ME!!!" "LIKE HELL YOU ARE, HE WOULD **NEVER **TAKE YOU! BECAUSE HE'S TAKING ME, RIGHT SASUKE-KUN?!" "SASUKE-KUN, PICK ME!!" He scanned for the prettiest girl of the group. Sasuke found her in the middle of the mob, and began to make his way through it to get to her, leaving a gaping Sakura. '_He never goes into his group of fangirls..._'

When he got out, he had a very pretty girl on his arm. "I would rather take her than you. I'm taking her to prom." he informed her pointing to the girl beside him who was swooning at the sound of his voice. Sakura continued to gape with an open mouth and wide eyes, looking from Sasuke to the girl, over and over again.

"Well, you'll just take **anyone** won't you?" She said with a sneer, and then linked arms with Ino to skip down the hallway. Sakura is strong, but she felt hurt. However, she did not want to give him the satisfactory, so she didn't show it.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted to the girls shrinking in the distance, and that grunt was the last thing his 'date' heard for a very long time.

* * *

end of chapter 10.... DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNN :P

hope you liked!! :D

and i hope everyone had a loverly valentines day :P i know it's like a day late - alomst two :P - but happy belated valentines to you all :)


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n: **11th chapter :) thank you to everyone who reviewed :) there's really only one more chapter left... which i have procrastinated writing :P but i'll get working on it for all who read it and liked it :)

* * *

THE NIGHT OF THE PROM::

"I can't do this." A raven-haired boy said.

"Sure you can teme. Just swallow your pride and say it." Naruto told him as Sasuke stared at him. "Let's try a different approach... Pretend I'm Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he sat himself straight up with his hands on one knee to make himself look proper. Then he opened his wide like Sakura's and made a sexy, seductive smile that would have looked good on Sakura. However, it sadly did not look so good on him. Naruto puckered his lips up to Sasuke, and Sasuke quickly shoved him away.

"I can't work when you are acting like a baka, dobe."

"Sasuke-teme, it isn't that hard." Naruto sighed at the boy sitting opposite himself in his orange room.

"I'm s-so," He held the 'O' sound out for 5 seconds before it sloped downward until no sound could be heard from his mouth.

"TEME! IT'S NOT THAT HARD! IT'S TWO WORDS!" Naruto yelled with his priceless angry face while holding two fingers up in Sasuke's face. Sasuke merely gave him an emotionless look. "We've been at this for two hours and it takes two seconds to say!" he finished shaking his two fingers threateningly.

"Dobe, I can't do this." Sasuke told the blonde as he leaned his back against an orange wall. "It's impossible."

"Sasuke-teme, say it with me." Naruto said as leaned over to grab Sasuke mouth and jerk him to attention. Naruto moved Sasuke's mouth along with his, while Sasuke made incomprehensible sounds. "I-m so-rry. Now, try it by yourself."

"I-I'm sor-sor-sor-"

"RY! GRR!!!" Naruto screamed. "Sasuke-teme, I have to go pick up Hinata-chan." he said as he got up to leave.

"Naruto! I need your help!" Sasuke whined as he stood up as well.

"I would love to stay and help you, but you are beyond help. Besides, I don't want to be late. Good luck." Naruto said with a thumb up, but no smile as he walked out of the door. About two minutes later Naruto cracked the door open enough to see Sasuke's face and asked him, "Can't you swallow your pride **THIS** once? For Sakura-chan atleast." He closed the door, leaving a helpless Uchiha.

"I wish I could." Sasuke mumbled to the door.

Sakura was in front of her mirror once again. She had her short kimono and black two-inch heels on along with black and pink bangles dangling from her wrists. Her hair was in a cute bun with pink chop sticks with black hearts at the top stuck in it at perfect angles. (The bun looks like this .com/procserv/ , but with chopsticks.)

"Sai should be here any minute." She said to her self as she glanced at the clock sitting on her wooden nightstand next to her pink unmade bed. Sakura still wasn't sure if she was happy or sad she was going to prom with Sai. However, she told herself she really liked him, and in the end she believed herself.

She ran down the stairs and onto the front porch where she waited. It was 5:00. The time he had told her he would pick her up. She sighed deeply with her hand on her knee sitting on her front step. '_He's late..._'

20 minutes later, she saw a figure walking down the street. She stood up and saw that it was who she was looking for, Sai. She quickly ran over to him. "Hey Sai!" she smiled a cute smile at him.

"Yo."

"Me, Ino, Hinata, and Ten-ten are performing tonight." Sakura informed after a few minutes of silent walking.

"Cool." was Sai's only response.

Obviously Sai was not in the mood for talking, so she just hung on his arm with her head on his shoulder the remaining time.

When they got to the school, everyone was already inside. They walked themselves inside the gym, where the theme was black and pink. There were streamers, flowers, music, punch and snacks, tons of people, everything you would imagine prom to be. After a few minutes of carelessly walking around lost, Sakura spotted their friends. She immediately ran over, and Sai followed behind her walking slowly.

Sakura and Ino were jumping up and down, squealing like the little girls they are. Sasuke was standing next to his 'date', not listening to her rambling on about he's so handsome and she's so pretty, so they were meant for each other. Naruto was talking to Hinata about... ramen. And after the giggling fit, Ino went back to Shikamaru who kept saying that she was troublesome. Ten-ten was talking to Neji about sparring and how much of a genius he is. Kiba was dancing to the music with Akamaru, while Chouji was destroying the snack table, and Shino was over in a dark corner talking to some bugs. Rock lee, of course, was dancing horribly trying to attract a lady. ( imagine Zach*the light up guy* from Sky High or the dorky guy from Hitch when Hitch is teaching him to dance =D)

It was very loud considering their conversations, along with everyone else's, and the sound of the music blaring. After everyone was settled, Ino, Ten-ten, and Sakura were dancing and had left the guys to talk. They tried to get the boys to dance with them, but even Ino couldn't force them to come. Hinata knew Naruto was here, so she figured it was best to stay with him.

Naruto jabbed Kiba's side, "Hey should we spike-"

"NO!!!" Kiba screamed pointing at Naruto with a priceless frightened face. "WE ARE NEVER SPIKING** ANYTHING** AGAIN!!"

"You just don't have the guts." Naruto mumbled with his arms crossed and his head turned away from Kiba.

Hinata gently touched his arm as she whispered, "Naruto-kun, I don't think that's wise. Remember what happened last time you spiked the punch?"

"Yes," Naruto answered and sighed, "No fun I guess..."

"Our next live band performing tonight will be consisted of middle schoolers; Ino, Hinata, and Sakura, and he high schooler; Ten-ten. Give it up!" the announcer said as everyone clapped and cheered. The four girls exchanged nervous glances, but slowly they made their way to the stage, where their instruments were waiting for them.

Sakura gripped the mike, really starting to regret ever going up there. She turned around and gave Ino a glare, "How did you get me to do this?!" she whispered, and Ino nonchalantly shrugged and winked.

(song = All you wanted by Michelle Branch) When she heard the music begin, she was having a mental breakdown. She started off shaky, and she missed a cue and a note. Sakura told the others to stop, and start over, that she was ready now. The crowd was getting antsy, and the music began again, all the friends giving Sakura worried glances. Sakura closed her eyes, and began to sing. She opened her eyes to see Sai staring up at her with his smile that could fool anyone, including Sakura. She felt happier, and she felt like she _could_ do it. At that moment, she realized she really did like Sai, a lot. Sakura started to sing with more confidence than she never thought was in her. She continued to sing to Sai, who kept looking up at her, listening. The song came to and end and every one whooped and cheered. Sakura had sung perfectly, Ten-ten was awesome on the drums, Hinata played her bass with the greatness of a rock goddess, and Ino played a mean electric guitar.

Sakura ran off stage and hugged Sai with all of her might, and he hugged back, sticking his tongue out at a figure in the corner who had been watching Sakura the whole time. He slowly walked away, Sai had won. After their hug, Sai walked up to Sasuke with his dorky smile, knowing his victory, and ready to rub it in. "So Uchiha, we meet again."

"Hn. Sai, leave me alone."

"Aw, are we feeling a bit… jealous?" Sai asked managing an emotionless tone.

"No, leave me alone." Sasuke said trying to calm himself down and control his urges to beat the hell out of him and throw him in a ditch somewhere.

"I just want to talk."

"I don't. Go away." Sasuke commanded.

"Well, do you mind if I dance with Sakura?"

"She's your date, knock yourself out." '_Literally... do us all a favor._' Sasuke thought to himself looking at the ceiling.

"Hmm... it seems trying to make you jealous is getting boring... I guess I've had my amusement. What a shame." Sai said as he walked off, his smile vanished.

"What are you going to do?" Sasuke asked alarmed as he took a step toward Sai.

Sai stopped and turned his head to see Sasuke with his re-appeared smile. "Break her heart." Sai held up his hand as a good bye. Sasuke stood in his place unable to move.

Meanwhile, Sakura was at the punch bowl filling up her cup. Her throat hurt from having to project so much. She lifted the cup up to her lips, but remembered the last time she drank punch; she wound up not remembering much after that drink at Ino's party. Thus, she gave the punch a good sniff to be sure Naruto, or anyone else stupid enough to spike a drink, didn't do anything funny before bringing it to her lips. The cool red liquid running down her throat seemed to sooth the soreness. As she went for a second swig, she felt a presence behind her. She turned herself to become face-to-face with Sai.

"Hey Sai!" Sakura exclaimed with a cute smile on her face.

"Sakura, I have to talk to you."

"Sure, what about?" Sakura asked her smile had faded and became a look of worry.

"Well, I don't mean to be rude... but I just don't like you." Sai stated with his stupid smile.

"What?" Sakura asked confused.

"Are you deaf? I said I didn't like you. You shouldn't make people repeat themselves. It's rude."

Sakura looked at him dumbfounded, with a little tear in her eye. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"No." Sai replied with his smile.

"Then why did you take me to prom?" Sakura asked holding back tears.

"Well," Sai tiled his head slightly to the side keeping the smile stuck to his face, "A rumor was going around that you put out, but I have gotten bored with trying to get you." (A/N: GRR. I HATE having to write this... but I don't want him saying the stuff about wanting to make Sasuke jealous... that's too cheesy.)

Sai began to walk away, leaving a completely shocked Sakura. '_A rumor? I haven't even so much as had a boyfriend... and he's bored with me? Oh my gosh... Sasuke was right, he is a jerk... and just when I was sure of my feelings too. The *!#$%. I can't even believe I'm even crying... He got bored after a week?!'_ She began to feel tears streaming down her face; she quickly wiped them off with her sleeve. '_I can't cry, I have to be strong. Gotta stop. NOW. Sakura. Damn it, there's no stopping it. I guess I really did like him..._' She thought as she sat down in the floor and looked at the blurry hardwood floor of the gym. Tears were coming down her eyes, along with her mascara. She grabbed a napkin beside the cups and began to dab at her eyes. '_Sakura... you have got to stop. He's not worth crying over..._' However, her efforts to stop the water works were no good. She began to cry more. Sakura saw two black blobs coming toward her. She quickly dabbed at her eyes to clear he vision, and looked back to see a pair of black dress shoes stop in front of her. She sucked in the sadness she could as she looked up to face the person. It was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

"Are you okay?" He asked looking away from her. _'Stupid question...'_ he mentally scolded himself.

Sakura looked down and attempted to suck in the last of her tears. "No." She smiled weakly and forced a bitter laugh through her glossy lips.

Sasuke crouched down, so he could meet her at eye level, or at least close to it. He stared right into her eyes as he stuttered, "I-I'm so-" He cleared his throat and looked away from her again and muttered something inaudible.

Sakura blinked and tilted her head. "What?" she asked.

"I'm so-" He breathed deeply and faced her before muttering, "-ry"

Sakura looked at him in confusion for a few seconds, not believing **THE** Uchiha Sasuke just apologized to her. "For what?" she asked.

"**Are you **_**trying**_** to make this more difficult?!**" Sasuke asked as he glared at her.

"No, I just want to know why you are sorry." Sakura stated nonchalantly with her eyes wide in confusion.

"Because," Sasuke sighed. "I was over-protective, and wouldn't let you make your own decisions that you can decide yourself. And the spying on you thing..." Sasuke muttered the last part.

Sakura stared at him unbelievably for a minute or two. "What?" Sasuke asked giving her a soft glare, finally breaking the silence.

Sakura leapt and hugged him tightly. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry!" She cried into his shoulder. It was Sasuke's turn to be surprised. He gave her a weird look, and sighed at his now sopping wet shoulder, but in the end hugged her back. Not before rolling his eyes though. In between sobs you could hear Sakura saying, "I'm - SO - sorry!! I - should have - listened - to - you! Sai's - an - ass - hole!!!" She gripped his fancy black suit jacket and sobbed for a few more minutes. She ranted on some more, but you couldn't really tell what she was saying.

"So, you forgive me?" Sasuke asked quietly after she was done rambling and she was just lying on his shoulder. He was very unsure of what to say as he patted her back.

Sakura nodded into his shoulder, her eyes tired of crying. She let go of him and took her seat on the floor once again. "Sorry," She laughed weakly, "I got your shoulder all wet." She smiled up at him.

He looked at his wet shoulder, "hn"ed, and shrugged. A Sasuke way of saying "it's fine.", and Sakura got the message and returned it with another genuine smile.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said sweetly.

"Hn." Sasuke way of saying, "No problem."

Sakura's eyes got big and she placed her hand over her mouth for a second. "That one slipped, okay? One time thing." She said sternly pointing at him like she was lecturing him.

Sasuke smirked and replied with a "Hn." as he brought himself up to a standing position, and walked over to a wall, where he leaned "cooly". Sakura had followed him, not wanting to be alone, and Sasuke didn't seem to care. A slow song had come on and Naruto had somehow seemed to convince Hinata to dance with him. Ino literally dragged Shikamaru to the danced floor, which was too lazy to turn her down, and Kiba was, of course, dancing with Akamaru. Just kidding, he was dancing with a nice dog-loving girl. Rock Lee was dancing by himself, looking like he was hugging himself and swaying to the music. Dancing was WAY OUT of Neji's comfort zone, but Ten-ten coaxed him into it. Sakura just leaned against the wall with Sasuke, looking back and forth from everyone dancing, and then up at Sasuke. "What happened to your date?" Sakura asked.

"Hn. I told her I didn't want to dance, she screamed at me, and went to some other guy." Sasuke said as he shrugged his shoulders staring at the ceiling.

"If you were just going to ignore her all night, why did you bring her?" Sakura asked with a confused face.

He stared at her with hint of 'don't bring it up.' and once again Sakura got the message. She just looked and envied the people in the arms of their partners. Silence surrounded them for about 30 seconds before Sakura broke the silence. "Hey Sasuke?" she asked as she looked up at him as she started to blush, but you couldn't tell it.

"Hn?" Sasuke replied as he looked down at her.

"... never mind." Sakura said as she looked down at the ground with her hands behind her as she leaned against the wall. Her blush intensified.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, but figured it was nothing. He shrugged it off, and began staring at the ceiling once again.

'_The girl isn't supposed to ask the guy...'_ she thought, '_But... he's not the type to ask._' Sakura sighed deeply as she turned her gaze toward Sasuke again. He began to feel her eyes on him, and turned to look at her. He gave her a questioning look as she snapped her head to look at the ground as she blushed deeper.

The song slowly faded to an end, and the announcer announced it was time for the fireworks to begin. Everyone rushed out (much like the mob of people rushing into school: refer to back chapter 2) to get a good spot for viewing the light show. Sakura was getting pushed away from Sasuke, and she kept screaming his name, but she thought he was too far away by now. She felt some one grab her hand from two people away, looked back and saw it was Sasuke. She smiled at him while he gave her an emotionless look as he hunched over trying to keep his grip and people were pushing him to go faster. Finally, he yanked Sakura by the arm causing her to smash into him, him to fall down, and them both getting blown out of the mob because of their train reaction. Sasuke landed with his back on the ground and a grunt, he opened his eyes (when they were falling he had closed them) to find Sakura staring blankly at him. She had landed on top of him and her arms were on his shoulders to keep her from completely falling into him. Sakura started to blush like mad and quickly got up from Sasuke. Sasuke just stayed lying on the ground looking up at her with a confused face on. Sakura held out her hand to help him up, he looked at it, sighed, and took it. She pulled as he pushed himself up. Sasuke brushed himself off, and then he grabbed her hand. "Now, stay beside me, and keep up." Sasuke told her as he dragged the blushing girl into the mob. 15 minutes later, they found a suitable spot, and sat to watch the fireworks begin.

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**a/n: **oh poor uchiha :P so little of his pride is left :P getting pushed around by a drunk girl, asking for directions, AND having to apologize... oh geez :P anyway, that was the 11th chapter, there IS only one more that i will start wriring today :) i promise :) and i may say in advance, i'm sorrry if this next one is a different writing style than the last chapters, as i said in chapter one i wrote this in the summer of 8th grade, and i have definitely grown in both age and writing level... so, when i post it, be sure to tell me if you like the style or not. if you do, maybe i'll re-write the whole story, or if you don't i'll re-write the 12th chapter. either way, i hope you enjoyed this chapter and please tell me what you think :)


	10. Chapter 10

**a/n: :)**

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Everyone had crowded around on the ground, so there were hardly any spots left to take, and all that were available Sasuke immediately rejected with his infamous grunt. Sakura commented, through her still cherry-red face, on his distaste for crowds, and of course Sasuke just grunted once again. He finally settled upon the idea of being up in a tree, where they would be alone, away from everyone else, and Sasuke's mind was at ease with knowing that in the tree no one would be able to see what he wanted to do.

Sakura saw that Sasuke had been looking up at a tree branch for quite sometime, and she was started to feel antsy for some unknown reason. It came as no surprise to her when Sasuke, who still had her dainty hand in his, quickly jerked her in the direction of the tree just behind them. By controlling the chakra in to their feet, they began to run up the tree quickly so no one would see them, think that their spot was the best, and begin to infest the tree as they had the ground.

They got settled in to their positions on the thick branch; Sakura was in the middle and because her dress was short, her legs were together and placed tensely to the side of her, knees slightly bent. For support, her hand was on the branch and her head rested on her shoulder. Sasuke sat with his back against the tree "coolly". They were pretty far away from each other, but neither one minded really, it gave Sasuke time to strategically map out what he was to do, and it gave Sakura time to let everything the night had brought sink in a little. Here she thought the past week had been great, she hadn't really liked Sai, not until she began to sing and saw him listening, but she enjoyed being around him. However, she couldn't place a finger on why she even liked being around him to begin with. She was so deep in her thoughts she didn't notice Sasuke had been yelling at her.

"Oi, Sakura!"

"Oh… yes?" she replied dazedly.

"Did you just not hear a word that I said?"

"Uh, no… Mind repeating it for me?" she asked as she turned to look at him with a smile on her face. The blush had finally died now that the two weren't touching.

"Hn. Maybe its better you didn't hear." He muttered.

She laughed a cute laugh, "Oh, sure. Like that doesn't make me more curious."

"Isaidyousanggreattonight." His voice was muddled and barley audible, but she understood him.

She couldn't help but radiate a warm, glowing smile. "Thank you, Sasuke-Ku-" She stopped herself, and she laughed. "I almost said it again!"

"You know, you can still call me that if you want to. I mean, unless you want to keep embarrassing yourself further by saying 'cookie' or 'carpet'." He smirked as he remembered the events of two months ago.

"Don't judge me," she replied and stuck her tongue out at him. She re-positioned herself to have her legs thrown over the branch casually. She was beginning to feel more comfortable.

Sasuke smoothly walked over and sat down beside her, and threw his legs over the side as well. There was a long moment of comfortable silence between them. The wind blew in from the East, the warm breeze once again. The kind Sakura absolutely adored. The leaves rustled and the warmth spread throughout all of her limbs. She was happy. The wind then carried the scent of Sasuke right into her nose as she took a long deep inhale. She loved the smell of him as well. She looked over at him and smiled. He felt her eyes and looked over to find her just smiling at him. He smirked, as he asked "what?"

"Nothing," She smiled wider. "You know, I see why you don't like crowds now. Down there, there's no way we could've felt that breeze… or gotten this spectacular view of the sky… We would have been too focused on the noise of people talking." She inhaled deeply again, getting the full scent of Sasuke.

There was a moment of silence once again, but this time Sasuke broke it with what he thought would be a sore subject. "What did you ever see in that Sai guy, anyway?"

Suddenly, the warm sensation tingled her body once again. And it was at this time she realized why she had liked being with Sai. Even in the beginning, when she first met him, she had commented on how Sai was like Sasuke. The quiet, cool, sometimes emotionless persona. She liked the idea of "melting the ice cube". She wanted to be the one who melted Sasuke. However, she knew that he would never open up fully to her, so she settled for someone like him. That's why she never liked Sai fully, until the moment that she sang. She wasn't singing to Sai, she was imagining Sasuke the entire time. She wasn't admitting it to herself that she liked Sai; she was admitting she liked Sasuke once again. And then, to have the person that is most like Sasuke not care about her, toss her aside as well, it was more than she could bear. However, now she was with the real "ice cube" himself. And he was there for her the night of Ino's party, let her stay the night, tried to protect her heart, and now he was sitting there right beside her, looking as gorgeous as ever. And she was fully happy.

"You know, he never really deserved you anyway. Like I said, he's an ass." Sasuke stated as he closed his eyes, and leaned back on his hands. He threw his head back, opened his eyes, and looked up at the stars.

Sakura was afraid of what she was about to say. She didn't know how he would take it. Would he return her feelings, or he would he shoot her down as he did before? She was taking a risk, but she felt that she had to. She needed closure. And she needed to know whether she would ever be able to break the outer shell of him. The question she was about to ask could give everything she's ever wanted, but it also had the potential to destroy everything. "Then, who do you think deserves me?"

As soon as the question escaped her lips she began to regret it. The breeze stopped as well as her breath. All she could do was stare straight out in front of her, elbows rested on her knees, and her head placed in her palms waiting for his answer. When she finally heard his voice, after what seemed like ages, she jumped a little at the sudden tone.

"That's a difficult question that I probably shouldn't answer. We all know how you feel about me getting involved in your personal affairs."

She heard it. There was no doubt about it. That glimmer of hurt; it was there. He did have feelings for her. The breeze began again and she felt the tingle. She smiled. He was beginning to melt. For her.

"You choose who you want to like, I can't do that for you." Sasuke closed his eyes.

"What if I wanted you… to be in my personal affairs, Sasuke?" She turned to him anxiously.

He sat up and stared at her straight in the eyes. His stare wasn't cold, in fact at that moment it was soft and somewhat confused. "What do you mean?"

She started to blush and looked up at the sky, the wind slowly tossing her hair to the side.

"What kind of personal affairs do you want me in?"

She was quiet, and continued to stare above her. Abruptly, she felt a warm hand on her chin, and the hand pulled her face towards the owner. Her eyes were wide as she saw Sasuke's eyes were closed, lips barely puckered, but noticeable, and time completely stopped. Their lips touched. Electric tingles ran over her lips, traveling over her cheeks, to her forehead, seeping into her brain where the ecstasy ran through her nerves to everywhere in her body. It was nothing she could have ever imagined her first kiss to be. She closed her eyes sinking in to the kiss with Sasuke. Her Sasuke.

They parted and when they did, Sakura could see the faint blush on Sasuke's cheeks, and she lightly traced it with her thumb, slightly cupping the side of Sasuke's face, and smiling genuinely. She expected his skin to be cold, like his normal stare, however his skin was so soft and warm, absolutely perfect. He reached up to touch her hand and he smiled. It was not a smirk, but for the first time since she had known him, he truly smiled. The most perfect, beautiful smile she had ever seen. She was both speechless and breathless at his beauty. He finally took down his shield, and she, Sakura Haruno, was the one to do it. Her heart fluttered with the feeling of triumph, a sweet victory. And what a sweet, sweet victory it was.

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**a/n: **thank you and goodnight! :P


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